Spell Mishap
by Phoebegirl319
Summary: When Bonnie takes it upon herself to learn more about her powers, her spell goes terribly awry when Stefan volunteers to be one of her test subjects. However, one spell gone haywire may just be enough to get back his big brother Damon.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Hey guys! So, this is my first story , so don't be too hard on me! ;) This will mainly revolve around Stefan and Damon and their relationship as brothers. I don't know how often I'm going to be updating since it's my first story, but I know what it feels like to wait and wait and wait for a story - so I will try my hardest to have frequent updates.

This story will be set sometime in season 2 after they find out about Klaus.

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries.**

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><p>"So, Bonnie's been working on her witch roots lately, hasn't she?" Stefan asked curiously as he and Elena sat in the living room of the Salvatore Boarding House. Everyone was feeling a little on edge lately because of the recent news of Klaus and what danger he might bring. The group was especially worried about what this would mean for Elena and nobody really knew how they were best to tackle the first vampire in existence. But, Stefan and Damon (Damon especially), rarely let their scared emotions show and confidently let everyone know they would do whatever it took to keep Elena safe.<p>

"Yeah, she's kinda been going overboard actually. And I'm starting to get a little worried about her.." Elena trailed off, looking closely at Stefan for some support.

"Well I don't want anyone to overwork themselves over Klaus. We still don't even know if he exists." Stefan was hoping that after everyone had heard the news of the original vampire, that nobody would take the news as factual. At least until they gained more information. This was obviously not the case with Bonnie.

Damon chose that moment to walk in on the two, with his usual smirk in place.

"Aww, look at the two lovebirds. Ooh Stefan, I see your brooding forehead lines are perfectly in place." Damon walked over to his liquor stash and poured himself a glass as Elena sent him a withering glare.

"Damon, please. We are trying to have a serious conversation here," Elena rolled her eyes.

"Elena," Damon turned, "obviously I know this. Did you not hear me when I mentioned Stefan's forehead?" Damon took a seat on the seat opposite the couple and took a long drink.

Stefan merely smiled. This was typical Damon and all he wanted was to get a response out of Stefan. To Stefan, Damon was living up to his statement of "making your life an eternity of misery" and even these little digs came from this. In the old days, almost 150 years ago, Damon would still be Damon, but he would have playful digs, if ever, at his little brother - like the typical older brother.

Stefan looked towards his brother. "Damon, we were discussing how Bonnie's been a little too in-tuned with her witch side lately. It may be cause for worry."

Damon simply rolled his eyes at Stefan. "Oh please Stefan. That little witch will be fine. Let her fly on her broomstick all she wants. If it helps us kill Klaus in the end - I'm all for it." Damon ended with a smirk and another sip of his favorite alcoholic beverage.

Stefan and Elena decided not to say any more on the matter, considering who they were talking to, and knew that most of what Damon would say originated back to his issues with Bonnie. Instead they propped themselves out of their sitting position and moved on with their evening plans. However, they couldn't help the foreboding feeling that they really should have had a talk with Bonnie sooner, then later.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Ok, so this may seem short, but I'm planning on making the chapters much longer. So just consider this as a little teaser. Thanks and please review :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Thank you for the reviews and response. To **Depa Billaba: **I don't know if you know, but you've disabled the feature to have me reply back to your review - so- I'll just reply here. Thanks for your reply and interest :).

Here's the next chapter!

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><p>A week later saw no consequences from Bonnie's current obsession with her magic. Much to Elena's delight, she happily reported to Stefan one day that Bonnie had wanted to have some, "quality girl time". Stefan nodded in response and also found himself relieved, not only for Elena's ease of mind, but for Bonnie's sake as well. Stefan couldn't help but feel even more guilty than usual about how his coming back to Mystic Falls was affecting certain important residents of the town. He constantly felt like his vampiric presence caused enough trouble in a normal young teenager's life, let alone the worry of a possibly all-powerful, first sadistic vampire. So any chance he saw the teens actually engage in normal activities, gave him much happiness.<p>

Unfortunately, Bonnie's new found interest to re-kindle her friendship with Elena and start hanging out more, meant less Stefan and Elena time - and more Stefan brooding around the house time. Stefan supposed he wouldn't mind a little more time to himself, considering he had always been a more quiet and secluded person. He often enjoyed some isolated time as it allowed him to relax by reading or relieve the tension with some new journal entries (though those were few and far between). However, this also meant more interaction with his brother Damon, and Damon was not too pleased with the idea.

Within the first week of Bonnie and Elena hanging out more, Stefan found himself even more depressed than usual. Damon usually started out the day with turning up around 3 in the morning, and then promptly waking up around 12. Stefan would sometimes be up in the living room reading, waiting to possibly catch a moment with Damon and hoping he wasn't too drunk. Damon seemed to just think Stefan was out to annoy him and enforce his duties as "Saint Stefan" by administrating the rules of the house, regarding being home at a respectable hour. Damon would just remark that he was the man of the house, and try to make it to his room before he passed out.

What Damon didn't know, was that Stefan was secretly hoping to bond with his brother again due to the changes he was seeing in Damon. Although, if Stefan were to be honest with himself, he never _stopped_ wanting to be brothers with Damon again. Ever since that fateful night that Stefan had forced Damon to become a vampire, he had had a hole in his heart, and a pain that would not go away. Stefan had never wanted to be a vampire, but after he had become one, he knew there was no one else he would rather spend eternity with. Stefan had always looked up to his big brother and never knew what his life could be without his best friend and loving brother. This, of course, became a reality when Damon had looked back on Stefan with hatred and delivered a line that changed Stefan's undead life forever . The intense emotions of being a vampire only made it worse and after Damon had walked out on him with such a look of disgust, Stefan could only withstand himself by cutting off his emotions. Everything had just become too much, too soon. Despite all the heartache, Stefan never gave up the hope of having his big brother back, and secretly cherished the moments Damon would drop by and make his life hell.

So, even though Damon had clearly lost himself over the years, Stefan could see an enormous change in him. Despite the fact that he would make biting and sarcastic comments left and right, trying to seem impersonal, Stefan knew that Damon was slowly gaining back the humanity that he had buried by growing to care for Mystic Falls and its residents. With this Damon, Stefan could see glimpses of his big brother and it made him yearn even more for his once beloved relationship with him. Therefore, Stefan saw himself forcing himself to stay up at night - due to him being at school while Damon tried to probably take over Mystic Falls and become it's mayor or something- waiting to see if he could at least get a decent conversation in; which would lead the naive side of Stefan to fantasize about how then Damon would eventually forgive him and they would be brothers again.

Yes, Stefan knew this was most likely impossible. If Damon's constant blowing off Stefan the moment he saw him was any proof or if he _did_ talk to Stefan, give him a snide remark and ask why the little boy hadn't gone to bed yet. One night in particular stuck in Stefan's mind and lead him to a final conclusion:

As Stefan stifled a yawn and tried focusing on his book, he heard the distinct sound of footsteps quickly approaching the house at inhuman speed. Knowing that this was Damon, Stefan placed his book no the couch beside him and eagerly waited to greet Damon. The door slammed shut, and in walked Damon, looking a little more coherent than previous nights.

"Hello Damon." Stefan said as he watched Damon walk (instead of stumble like he usual did) in the room.

Damon narrowed his eyes and gave him a look, "Stefan, fancy finding you here after, oh, how many nights now has it been? Three?" Damon quirked an eyebrow.

Stefan smiled in an attempt to appear lighthearted. "Yes, I've been catching up on some reading since Elena has been a little preoccupied with spending some time with Bonnie." Stefan admitted.

Damon walked over to Stefan and plopped down on the couch beside him, obviously having lost his annoyance and curiosity at his younger brother's reoccurring appearances with the mention of Bonnie.

"Ahh, so I see that was right," Damon replied, looking pleased with himself, "I knew all this teenage drama would blow over but you, as usual, blew it over proportion and probably only served to feed into Elena's hallucinations over Bonnie's witch dilemma." The older vampire gave Stefan and disapproving look.

Stefan frowned, "Damon, I wasn't being over dramatic. Bonnie has been going a little overboard lately and she was even missing some days of school to practice spells. Elena knew that she was overworking herself again and she could really hurt herself. Only after Elena and I had kept trying to remind her of things besides being a witch does she seem to be finally giving in to acting like a normal teenager," Stefan replied tiredly. Even though he was glad Damon wasn't sputtering and spewing nonsense from too much alcohol (which was a feat for a vampire), he would rather not spend it arguing over Damon's prejudice over Bonnie.

Damon merely rolled his eyes at his brother and gave him another knowing look. "Whatever. This is just another win "Saint Stefan" can record in his diary for saving the day and - witch damsel." Damon reached over to mockingly pat Stefan's leg as a "job well done" and proceeded to get up off the couch. Stefan was about to comment, when Damon seemed to remember what he originally had wanted to talk about and sunk back down.

"So, why are you always up this week?" Damon rested back on the couch and gave Stefan a questioning look.

Stefan sighed and debated whether he should out right say, "I want to be brothers again!" or just make up some excuse. As he looked up at Damon's face, it was fairly obvious as to what the answer was. Make up some excuse.

"I told you. I'm catching up on some reading."

"At one in the morning? You get home everyday from school at least by 3, and homework, if those teachers ever give it, is done by 3:20. From then until now, you can't find a decent time to read?"

Stefan faltered. "Well…I like reading at night. It calms me when it's quieter…" Stefan finished off lamely, knowing Damon would not let this go.

"Oh please Stefan! I know that you've been trying to check up on me or something. I just never mentioned it the other nights due to being too drunk to care." Damon deadpanned. Stefan winced.

"I haven't been trying to check up on you, really," Stefan added, seeing the look on Damon's face. "I was just trying to…well….talk to you."

Damon merely snorted. "Yeah, and see what I'd cough up and let slip, huh? Big bad Damon has little Stefan worried and god knows what he'll do if it involves anything with his precious Elena and her friends." Damon proceeded to get up, already over the conversation.

Stefan shook his head and got up as well. "Come on Damon, I am not! I know that you've changed and you're not the same Damon who came back to town and wreak endless havoc. I had always hoped your humanity hadn't been completely snuffed out over the years and I'm glad to see it's returning." Stefan added, going a bit further to the truth of why he was staying up late.

Damon was suddenly very close to Stefan and Stefan took a step back out of instinct. "Look," Damon snarled, "My way of life and what I do is **none** of your concern, _brother_." Damon spat out. "And that especially goes for whatever you think of my "humanity". I don't care for you to sit here and wait to have lovely chats with me every night, giving me your typical speeches of what "good" people do with their time instead of getting wasted." Stefan found himself frozen as Damon continued his onslaught., too overwhelmed by how angry Damon got.

"So, please," Damon continued, "do **not** continue to get in my way or I will not be as pleasant next time. Then you can judge how well my humanity is coming along." Damon finished darkly and pushed past Stefan to run up to his bedroom, leaving Stefan alone and more sure of his earlier theories.

Damon hated Stefan and would probably never want to be his brother again.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Alright. Well, I intended to start this chapter completely differently, but my fingers kinda took over and we got some in-depth perspective on how our favorite Salvatore brothers are feeling - especially poor Stefan. I hope my grammar and dialog is not too terrible, so any feedback is very appreciated :) So, please read and review and I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Thank you to everyone for all the reviews and response!**

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><p>After Stefan had come to his depressing conclusion about Damon, he came to a new goal: Stay out of his brother's way; just as he had requested.<p>

Stefan no longer lingered in the house past hours, longing for just a chat with the older vampire. Instead he tried to go back to his old schedule of school, Elena, and the as-polite-as-they-would-ever-get conversations with Damon whenever their paths crossed.

Damon, for the most part, seemed back to his normal goofy self and acted almost as if the whole "fight" had never happened. _Perhaps he really doesn't hate me, _Stefan pondered after seeing Damon and noticing no horrible glare in his eyes. However, all it took was for Stefan to remember the hate he saw reflected back at him from that night, and he would immediately shut down those thoughts and try to stick to his plan. Although it pained Stefan terribly to think of how much his brother had truly come to hate him, he supposed he had to stop being so selfish and take some responsibility.

After all, who was it that forced their own desires and hopes onto someone who just saw it as a fate worse than hell? _Me, _Stefan thought bitterly. _It was me who was the bad brother all along. I forced Damon to turn when all he wanted was to just die peacefully after all the pain I caused him with Katherine. How _**couldn't** _he hate me?_

Stefan's dark thoughts stuck with him and for the first time in a long time he considered shutting off his emotions, just to end the pain. It was almost as if he had lost Damon again after he had had so much hope that his brother had been returning; not just with his humanity, but with his love for Stefan. His love for his once beloved baby brother. But Stefan couldn't do that, he would stick it out and try to focus on his life in Mystic Falls and Elena. He had to. It was the only way he would survive without returning to his dark past.

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><p>"Stefan…what's wrong? You've been looking so sad for the past few days." Elena and Stefan were in the cafeteria at School, sitting alone at a table outside. Bonnie and Caroline were still getting their lunch so the couple had some time to themselves before the rest of the group came. Elena swept a hand through her hair as she looked worriedly at Stefan. He had been acting very forced in the last couple of days - as if he was really happy, when Elena saw past his mask and noticed a raw pain that he couldn't hide from her.<p>

Stefan looked up from his tray where he had been mindlessly moving his food around on his plate and looking very lost in thought. "Nothing, Elena. It's just..some issues at home, that's all," Stefan gave her a small smile. "Please, don't take it too seriously - you know how I am. I'm Mr. Broody; forehead lines and all," Stefan attempted to appear indifferent to the situation and Elena just gave him a look.

"Of course I know you. I know that you let things bottle up inside until you take drastic measures to relieve the pain.." Elena trailed off, thinking of just a couple months ago when Stefan had attempted to end his life because of the pain he had been over the dark parts of his past. Elena never wanted to think of that time again, but if bringing it up would help Stefan confide in her, all the better to avoid a similar situation.

Stefan winced at that and nodded to himself. He realized that he had to be more honest with Elena and try not to keep too many of his issues to himself now that he knew it would only end up hurting her as well.

"It's Damon," Elena raised her eyebrows but looked more concerned than taken aback. "He's made it very clear to me that he wants nothing to do with me and, well," Stefan fumbled, looking down and avoiding Elena's eyes, feeling self-conscious. "Well, I guess I just had this stupid notion that maybe Damon wanted to repair our relationship more or something." Stefan eyes got a pained look to them.

Elena brought her hand up to Stefan's face and softly stroked it. "Oh Stefan." She sighed. "It's not stupid or anything. I know how you and Damon try to act like you both care nothing for each other, but even after just knowing you both for months I can tell how farther from the truth that could be."

Stefan reached up to pull her hand from his face and settled his emotions back in place. "Look, Elena, just don't. My issues with Damon I'd just rather not discuss right now." Elena gave him a slightly hurt look to which Stefan softened his gaze. "I'm sorry, Elena, it's just I'd rather not have you worry about this. It's nothing huge or anything; just the usual Stefan and Damon mess. I'm sorry that I have been a little down lately, but I really am going to try to make an effort to appear more-happy," Stefan gave a small laugh at his odd finish.

Elena laughed a little too. "I really do believe that Damon doesn't hate you Stefan." Elena looked like she wanted to say more, but at Stefan's sad look of doubt and hurt again decided to leave it alone. Right now, she would focus on keeping Stefan's mind on other things and getting him to smile more than he had been lately.

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><p>The loud noise of intense knocking could be heard coming from the front door. Stefan was in the kitchen nursing a hot mug of animal blood he had just warmed up in the microwave. He furrowed his brow at who could be at the door and set his mug down on the counter, quickly running to the door.<p>

"Hey Stefan," Bonnie was at the door smiling brightly with Elena in tow looking slightly anxious. Bonnie had her schoolbag with her and some books that Stefan suspected held information involving magic in them.

"Um, hey Bonnie. Why don't you guys come in?" Stefan gestured the two girls inside, gave Elena a kiss, and allowed them to get settled on the couch as he went to grab his mug of blood.

_What could this be about?_

As he entered the living room he noticed that Bonnie had already placed candles on the floor and had opened several books and was on her way to grabbing different types of ingredients from her bag. Elena looked on, seeming too exhausted to stop the other girl, and watched Bonnie's almost frantic motions.

"Bonnie, what exactly is going on?" Stefan went over to where Elena was standing watching Bonnie worriedly.

Bonnie looked up from her position on the floor where she was staring intently at a certain page in a book. "Oh! Stefan, it's wonderful!," Bonnie exclaimed happily, "I'm almost positive I've found something we can fight Klaus with!"

Stefan groaned inwardly. He knew he should have been paying attention to Bonnie more closely. Of course she hadn't given up worrying about Klaus and focusing all her efforts on her witch duties. She had just been trying to give off the appearance that she had abandoned all thoughts of Klaus to get Elena and Stefan off her back. Obviously it had worked.

Elena seemed to think the same thing as she shared a look with him. "Look, Bonnie. I thought we had a talk about this. I don't want anyone to worry themselves to death over Klaus. We still don't even know if he exists. We shouldn't waste all our energy over this." Stefan said.

Bonnie stood up and walked over to the pair and stared at the young vampire with a determined look. "Listen Stefan. I will not waste my time not working on my powers and learning very valuable spells that could help us in the future. And if Klaus does exist, I will be ready and be able to protect Elena."

Elena started to speak up at this but Stefan beat her to it. "I agree; I want to be just as prepared as you do to any threats we might have that could try to hurt Elena. I just don't want you guys to waste away your lives at this." Stefan spoke the last part softly, letting some of his guilt seep through.

Elena spoke up. "Stefan no one blames you, and yes, I know that's exactly what you were thinking," Bonnie nodded at this, "I didn't want Bonnie to go into overdrive either because I think all this fuss is probably over nothing."

Bonnie looked upset at this and started arguing, "Yeah, until it's your life on the line! It's best to be prepared and whether or not you guys believe me, I would be trying to learn as much about my heritage as possible, even if we didn't have any possible threats." Stefan and Elena nodded in consent at this. They knew how dedicated Bonnie had become to being a witch.

"It's just, I've found this great spell that I think could really come in handy against an enemy and I would really love to try it." Bonnie looked on hopefully.

Stefan noticed that Elena still looked a little worried but also found himself thinking it really was best to be prepared. "Alright. Let's hear about this spell."

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><p>Damon found himself, as usual, in the Mystic Grill at the bar after another council meeting. The silly humans all trusted him all so much that Damon wondered how they had ever managed to capture any vampires in the first place. He smirked to himself as he thought of how well he had become the town's hero - at least somewhat in Sheriff Forbes' eyes.<p>

As he downed another drink he figured he should probably head back to the house. His little brother would no doubt be back from school now and he had a nagging feeling he should check up on him. His brother had been extra broody these last few days and he had to wonder if it really came back to his late night conversation with Stefan. _Had my words affected him that much? He had to know that I was probably somewhat drunk, _Damon pondered. When he had woke up the next morning, he had completely forgotten the whole incident. Then it had all come rushing back to him when he had seen Stefan later in the day and noticed the immediate hurt in his eyes and then the guarded/indifferent expression as he quickly brushed past Damon. Most of his words and anger at Stefan had been the alcohol and his usual jackass self but he was really surprised at how Stefan seemed so deeply affected by them.

He had thought for sure that the younger vampire had wanted nothing to do with him. After making Stefan's life over the years less than pleasant for sure, he was almost certain Stefan dreaded every moment he would pop up in his brother's life. And at first, Stefan definitely seemed intent on getting Damon to leave. However, he knew now that Stefan no longer minded that Damon had decided to stay in Mystic Falls since he had grown fond on the town and its residents. Damon still thought that just meant that Stefan was no longer set on getting him to leave but would keep a close eye on him. Which, when he remembered back to those nights, had thought Stefan was doing. Trying to figure out what "Master Plan" Damon had next up his sleeve.

_Why would he be so ..upset about what I said though? It couldn't possibly be because he wasn't trying to check up on me…could it?_ Damon shrugged his head to rid his mind of these thoughts.

_Well, best go and see that he hasn't burned the place down any way_, Damon thought as he made his way to his car outside and quickly sped off to the house.

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><p>Everything was in place. The curtains had been drawn and the candles had been lit - forming a circle around the area where the couches had been removed. Stefan now stood in the center of those candles, looking slightly nervous but determined to help Bonnie if this would eventually save Elena from any future threats. After Bonnie had carefully explained that this spell worked only on vampires, she claimed she would obviously need a vampire to test it on, hence where Stefan came in.<p>

Before Elena could shout out why Bonnie was willing to try out a malicious spell on her boyfriend, Bonnie clarified how the spell worked.

"Relax Elena. Deep breaths.," Elena sent her a look of annoyance, "Obviously this is just a trial run. This type of spell comes from a book with two sets of spells. One, is the real spell and can cause actual damage. The other is intended just for this type of purpose - a trial run of sorts. You see, the original spell calls for the vampire to be made vulnerable - and thus killable." Elena winced as she looked over at Stefan. "However, the trial spell will just render the subject slightly dizzy and cause the flames to ignite until they turn a bluish color. This indicates that I have done the spell correctly and yadda yadda yadda, but cause no actual harm to the subject," Bonnie trailed off with a smile.

Elena looked doubtful. "Since when do witch spells come with trial runs? Where did you get this book anyway?"

Bonnie looked slightly offended. "From a very reliable source," Elena continued to look doubtful. Bonnie sniffed, "A fellow witch if you must know. And she has been practicing magic for a long while now - practically her whole life. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Stefan will be completely fine. And besides, it's not like I can ask Damon."

Stefan noticed that Elena was still very wary of this whole "trial spell" and made his way towards where Elena was standing, taking her hand. "Don't worry Elena. I want to do this. I trust Bonnie, and if Klaus ever does come along, this just gives us another advantage." Bonnie smiled at this and nodded her agreement.

Elena looked at Stefan and nodded. "Alright. If it puts you two at ease. But after this, will you please chill it on the magic and actually want to spend time with me once and awhile?" Elena pouted to Bonnie, feeling slightly miffed about Bonnie acting as though she willingly wanted to spend time with Elena.

"Elena, you know I want to spend time with you - I just want to protect you as well." Bonnie said. Elena feeling touched by her best friend nodded, "I know," she gave a small smile. Bonnie nodded back and returned her focus to the task at hand.

"Alright. Stefan, I need you to stand back in the center please. Now, I'm going to say the spell and just try to remain as calm as you can." Stefan moved towards the center and nodded back at Bonnie.

As Bonnie began chanting Stefan allowed his eyes to close in an effort to get more relaxed. As Bonnie's voice grew in volume and determination, the young vampire could feel a strong stirring of power being directed towards him and even felt the slight heat of the candles as he imagined the flames growing in size. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. Stefan felt a slight wind beginning to flow through the room as Bonnie repeated her chants and started to feel the dizzying affects Bonnie had mentioned.

Suddenly, a strong power slammed into him and straight into his heart. Stefan gave a cry of surprise as the pain grew in intensity as Bonnie's voice did in volume. The heat from the candles seemed to swirl around him and odd colors seemed to be surrounding him and encasing and enclosing in on him; causing the pain that was shot through his heart to become even more painful.

Stefan could distinctly hear the shouts of panic Elena was making as she realized things were going terribly wrong. As the pain, voices, colors, and power grew and grew, Stefan felt pure agony as his legs folded in and he fell to the floor in with another strangled cry.

_What's happening! Oh God, please let it end…please…pl-please, no more, no more, _Stefan thought desperately. And as the pain seemed like it would never end and the flames and colors kept binding him, suffocating him, killing him, his thoughts became less and less consistent until only one word remained constant.

_Damon, please, help…please Damon…..Damon…..Damon._

As Elena screamed at Bonnie to stop the spell after hearing Stefan's horrible cry of pain, and the odd colors obscured him from view, all the candles suddenly blew out, the wind was no more, and everything was silent.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Whew! So we finally got to the spell of the story. What do you think Bonnie's spell did to Stefan? Will Damon make it back in time? Take a guess and please leave a review! Thanks :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry for not having this chapter up as quickly as I usually do! Thanks again for all the reviews and I appreciated all of your guesses for what you thought Bonnie's spell did.. =)**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>At first, no one moved at all. The only sound that could be heard in the darkness was the rapid and harsh breathing of the shocked girls. Both reeling with emotion at just how badly the whole ordeal had turned out. Then reality snapped back and Bonnie ran to open up the curtains as Elena flipped on the nearest light switch. Immediately, Elena turned back to where the candles had surrounded Stefan and gasped back in shock.<p>

A prone figure lay on the ground unmoving where smoke was still filtering the air from the extinguished candles. Elena's heart fluttered painfully.

_Oh god, Stefan._

Elena swallowed and moved forward towards where Stefan lay on floor and..noticed something off. Stefan's clothes were different..brown trouser pants with straps and a white buttoned down top.

_Why would..?_

"Stefan?" Elena came to the front of him and stopped - her breathing catching in her throat again.

Longish light brown hair fanned over the sleeping handsome and boyish face. The same face Elena had come to know very well in the last couple of months. The same face of the vampire she had come to love.

"….Stefan?"

As Elena sat staring, Bonnie came rushing back in.

"Elena! Elena! How's Stefan? Is he ok!" Bonnie shouted frantically and stopped abruptly a few feet away from Elena as she took in the scene. Bonnie emitted a gasp.

"Is..is ..that?" Bonnie gestured towards the unconscious figure and Elena snapped out of her shock.

"Bonnie, i-it's Stefan.." Elena stammered, staring wildly at him. "I-I mean, he's different but look at his face. It's Stefan," Elena looked up at Bonnie and saw the recognition in her eyes as she inched closer to Stefan. "And judging by the clothes - this must be what Stefan looked like in 1864." Elena stared back at him in awe.

Bonnie looked confused. "Wait. Why would my spell make Stefan look like he did in 1864? That makes no sense." Bonnie shook her head flabbergasted at the whole situation.

"Look Bonnie, I don't know but he sounded like he was in such pain, we need to check him out!" Elena began to feel terrified again when remembering that beforehand this spell gave no impression of some parlor trick used to change one's appearance - it had been strong and powerful and caused Stefan a great deal of pain. He could be seriously hurt.

Bonnie nodded in constant and muttered a quiet sorry unheard by Elena as she started to kneel down next to Stefan. Touching her hands to his face she felt his slow breathing back on her hand and sighed in relief. Elena then placed her hands on Stefan's shoulder and positioned him to lay on his back. Remembering Stefan grabbing around the area around his chest before the smoke and bizarre colors had obscured him from view, Elena unbuttoned his shirt until she found what she was looking for.

An angry purple and red bruised circle covered the skin where Stefan's heart lie underneath. Both girls gasped again and Bonnie ran back to get a towel from the kitchen for Elena wanted to check and see if the wound was bleeding. After Bonnie had passed over a soft white towel, Elena gently pressed the fabric onto Stefan's chest and jolted back as Stefan gave a soft moan of pain.

"Stefan! Stefan?" Elena looked up towards Stefan and brushed the hair back from his face. Placing her hands gently on his cheek and rubbing softly, Elena asked again, "Stefan? Can you hear me? It's Elena." Stefan didn't make any more sounds or movements and continued to sleep.

Elena bit her lip and looked up at Bonnie who was staring intently at the angry mark. "Bonnie, what is it?"

Bonnie continued to stare. "I think it's where my spell hit Stefan. It was one of the most powerful spells I had ever done…to imagine being hit by that…" Bonnie trailed off looking down. Elena placed her hand on Bonnie's shoulder and started to get up.

"Bonnie it's ok. The wound doesn't seem to be bleeding so I think for now he's ok. We should probably move him to somewhere other than the floor though and try to figure this out." Bonnie nodded back and helped Elena to move Stefan.

After placing Stefan on the couch, Elena stopped and stared at him. As he continued to sleep, Elena couldn't help but think how incredibly cute and innocent he looked with his old fashioned schoolboy clothes and his long hair falling into his eyes. Elena turned back towards Bonnie just as the door to the boarding house slammed open, and a booming voice rang out, "Stefan, I'm home!"

Both girls looked back to each other in horror as they realized just who that voice belonged to; Damon.

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><p>Damon pulled his car up to house and felt calmer seeing that yes, the house was not burnt down. <em>Huh, so far so good.<em> Damon smiled to himself, rolled his eyes and opened the door shouting out his arrival. Upon hearing no response, Damon figured that Stefan must be up in his room and walked further into house, walked past the living room - and came to a dead stop.

Books were scattered all over the floor, some half opened, others closed. Candles positioned in a circle were burnt out with still some smoke rising to the ceiling. And Elena and Bonnie stood in front of the couch looking extremely worried and guilty.

"What happened here." Damon spoke out slowly, obviously pissed that Bonnie seemed to take it upon herself to do some serious witchy mumbo jumbo in his house. As the girls looked at each other, wondering where to start it seemed, Damon noticed his brother was no where to be seen, which was extremely odd considering Elena was here - and Bonnie.

"Where's Stefan? I know he took part in this, whatever "this" is." Damon asked, rising his eyebrows.

Elena decided to speak up first. "Damon, Bonnie did a spell and something went really wrong." Damon began to feel the dread from before coming back as he realized his suspicions had been correct.

Elena continued on, "Stefan volunteered to do a certain spell and it was only suppose to be a trial of sorts and something went wrong and we haven't really had time to figure out what we did." Elena rushed out all at once.

Suddenly a soft moan filled the room and Damon's eyes snapped to where Elena and Bonnie were still standing in front of the couch. "Move." Damon barked out and both girls moved away as Damon stepped closer.

_What the hell?_

"What the hell?" Damon said aloud as he stared at his unconscious brother who was shifting uncomfortably on the couch and seemed to reaching towards his chest. It felt like Damon was staring back at his memories. This was exactly how Damon remembered Stefan to look back in 1864; right down to the clothing that he remembered himself wearing a similar outfit while introducing football to his younger brother for the first time.

_This can't be possible.._ Damon thought to himself as Stefan shifted again, making the long hair Damon remembered Stefan always refusing to cut fall across his forehead.

In a flash, Damon was grabbing hold of Bonnie's shoulders and shouting furiously at her, "What the hell did you do, you little witch!"

Bonnie at first was taken aback but quickly scrunched her eyes as Damon started to shake her more painfully. Damon took notice what Bonnie was doing though, and he tossed the girl hard onto the floor before she could make his blood vessels bursts again. _Bitch_ Damon thought angrily remembering the excruciating pain accompanied with that look.

"Damon, Bonnie - stop!" Elena walked over to the two and stood in between as Bonnie got up from the ground looking like she wanted very much to get into it with Damon. Bonnie had still felt very guilty about what her spell had done to Stefan but she wasn't going to take any crap from Damon either. She had had good intentions.

"I was only trying to help! Stefan too! I had found a spell that I thought would help us defeat Klaus. It was only a trial spell and wasn't meant to do any harm and I needed a vampire to try it out." Bonnie gushed out.

"And why, may I ask, is my brother currently looking like he is from the 1800s again?" Damon mashed his teeth together in frustration.

Bonnie gave him a look. "I don't know - I told you something got messed up in the spell." Damon looked like he didn't approve of her tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Please forgive me if I don't appreciate the complete BS you're feeding me for your complete lack of knowledge in knowing what you're doing! "Trial" spells or not!" Damon shouted again.

"Damon, please!" Elena rubbed her eyes as a headache formed from having to break up another fight between Damon and Bonnie in less than three minutes. "Let's please focus on what we know and how that affected Stefan," Elena mediated.

Bonnie sent Damon a glare before going back to retrieve the book she had left on the floor. Damon sent another glance at his brother - still sleeping seemingly soundly.

"Hmmmm," Bonnie placed her finger down and she re-read a couple pages. After reading for about a minute more, Bonnie stood up. "Well, I'll have to look at more books but I think I might have an idea on what happened."

Elena and Damon looked at one another and then back to Bonnie. "Yes, how exactly did you screw up?" Damon smiled mockingly at her. Bonnie decided to let it pass and ignored him; mostly for Elena's sake.

"Well, the original spell is suppose to make the vampire vulnerable so I can kill it. The original spell calls for a couple more lines - specifically the ones used for the killing purposes. But, it seems for some reason the first part of the original spell came into play for the trial spell." Bonnie said.

"Like making a vampire vulnerable?" Elena asked anxiously.

Bonnie nodded. "Yes, precisely. Something went wrong and I figure that must have happened to Stefan. Now, the trial spell wasn't very specific on what exactly happens when it makes the vampire vulnerable, but looking at the page on the original spell I'm guessing that it stripped him of his vampiric nature." Bonnie looked seriously back at Elena and Damon.

Damon looked seriously at her. "What do you mean? He's human!" Elena gasped at this and looked back at Bonnie.

Bonnie shook her head. "No, not exactly. In essence, he's still a vampire. But in order to make him vulnerable I think the spell took away all the things that make vampires so powerful - their strength, speed, agility, healing,…fangs," Bonnie trailed off awkwardly. "Basically all the things that make a vampire a predator. He still should have the other defensive senses though, like immorality and hearing things from far away, seeing things clearer - non lethal things. He's like vampire-lite."

Elena still looked confused and shocked while Damon looked murderous and started pacing around the room, making wild gestures. "Are you kidding me! You made my brother even more of a pathetic vampire than before! I mean, if there were ever a vampire to have this happen to, of course it happens to Stefan! Does he even still need blood?"

Bonnie thought this over, "I would think not, but we'll have to wait and see when he wakes up."

Damon gave her another angry look and resumed to pace around the room again. Elena turned to Bonnie. "That still doesn't really explain why Stefan looks this way. Why didn't the spell just strip him of his offensive abilities and leave him as he was?"

Bonnie looked towards Stefan again and back towards Elena again. "I think.., now I could be wrong, but I think that while it doesn't render the vampire human, it makes the vampire take on the last shape that it had human qualities - to the shape it remembers being vulnerable in. It might be something I screwed up with the wording - this was still a complicated spell even for the trial version," Bonnie sighed, "I know it seems weird, but that's the only thing I can think of right now."

Damon walked back towards the group obviously overhearing her speech. "This is the dumbest spell I have ever had the misfortune to have a witch come across, right under those brain aneurysms you seem so fond to give me."

"Those require no spell." Bonnie spit out.

Damon simply waved his hand at her, "All the same to me." Bonnie rolled her eyes.

All of a sudden, Damon seemed to remember something. "Wait a minute. Why is Stefan even unconscious, and why was he moaning before?" Slight concern slipped into his voice. _Don't sound so worried, it's probably nothing, geez. _Damon scolded himself.

Elena looked softly at him while Bonnie offered an explanation. "The spell must have been pretty painful because it almost ripped his entire vampiric being out of him," Bonnie looked guiltily at Stefan again, "It seems the spell struck right at his heart," Damon looked sharply towards Stefan again in concern. "But there only seems to be a deep bruise. He's been out since." Damon sent her another angry glare while Bonnie looked down.

"I don't **ever** want my brother to be apart of your witch schemes again." Damon growled at Bonnie and walked over to examine Stefan's wound. Damon brushed back Stefan's shirt to where the wound was and winced. Stefan moaned again and Damon realized that Stefan probably needed aspirin for the harsh looking bruise - something that Damon couldn't even remember if it had been invented back in his human life.

"It's alright Stef." Damon said softly, surprising himself. He couldn't remember the last time he had called his brother by his nickname in an affectionate tone. As he looked down at his little brother, he noticed how young Stefan looked. Although Stefan would still be the same age he had been the last hundred years, sometimes Damon would forget that Stefan still was only seventeen as a vampire. Only a kid really. But Stefan always been mature and painful experiences over the years had caused Damon to ignore that fact. He couldn't ignore it now though, what with that peaceful expression despite probably still being in pain and that damned floppy hair.

Damon shook his head and turned back towards the girls. "I'm going to get him some aspirin and crush it in some water so we can let him sleep - he still seems to be in pain from the bruise." Damon quickly sped to the kitchen and was gone in an instant. Elena looked on at him knowingly, knowing that his brotherly instincts were kicking in despite how much he shoved them down.

Within a few seconds Damon was back with a glass and looked over at the girls. They seemed to be busy, looking over the books together. Not really wanting them to think he had gone soft or anything, Damon was glad that their attention wasn't on him as he titled up Stefan's head to get him to swallow the medicined water without choking. Stefan complied easily and Damon rested his head back, but a few seconds later Damon realized that Stefan still seemed to be fidgeting.

Damon frowned._ Duh. The girls failed to realized that this is the oldest couch in the place - not the most comfortable._

He looked back towards the girls. "Have you guys found anything more about the spell - like how to reverse it?" He noticed that after he said that Bonnie started packing up while Elena helped.

"No, not yet. But don't worry, I have a whole book at home on reversing spells, so I'm going to head back home and look at it over there." Damon sent her slight nod in her direction, still very pissed off.

Elena walked over to Damon. "Don't worry, Bonnie will figure it out. I kinda have to get home though - I'm sure Jenna is wondering where I am - I didn't tell her how long I was going to stay."

"Alright, well, I'll keep watch over Stefan-lite than." Damon gave an annoyed look that Elena almost laughed at how forced it looked.

"Ok, Damon. Let me know when he wakes up please." Elena walked over to where Stefan was lying on the couch and lightly gave him a kiss while caressing his cheek. "I love you Stefan. Wake up soon, alright." She gave another kiss on his cheek, said a goodbye to Damon and walked out with Bonnie.

* * *

><p>After the girls were gone, Damon closed the door and walked back into the living room. "Well, what am I going to do with you brother?" He gave Stefan a look and merely shrugged to himself.<p>

"I suppose I should get you in a bed - probably more comfortable than that old couch, huh Stef?" He said, the old nickname coming out unnoticed this time. Damon slid his hand gently under his brother's legs and the other under his shoulders and lifted his brother into his arms, barely even noticing the weight.

Damon sped quickly, but gently, into Stefan's room and placed the boy down onto his bed. Stefan gave a small satisfied smile at the more comfortably setting and sighed quietly to himself.

Damon quirked an eyebrow at him, "Quite the sleeper today, aren't you little brother? I do think though that's enough spells for you for a while," Damon smiled gently and barely noticed his hand moving the bangs out of Stefan's eyes.

As Damon made his way back downstairs to get himself some much needed blood to clear his head, he caught a quiet mumble from the sleeping Stefan. "Damon."

"Night, Stef."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: There you go! Surprised? I hope you all understand exactly what the spell did, and this is partly the reason why it took me a little longer to get this chapter up. Please PM me or let me know in your reviews if you're still a little confused as to what happened =) Thanks!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! And I wanted to respond the anonymous reviews I was getting, so those are there below. Enjoy :)**

**Hell – **Thanks for the previous reviews and guess! Yeah, I loved the Stefan from the flashbacks – I thought he was so cute! I couldn't resist writing him into this story! I love protective Damon too.

**Roxx – **Thanks for the previous review!

**G – **Thank you so much! Glad you're interested =)

**(No Name) – **Thanks; glad you seem to like it!

**Luckycharms – **There should be many more to come! =)

**loVE YoU – **Haha, that's very sweet! Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! =D

* * *

><p>Slight rays of sunshine filtered into Stefan's room as morning started to come. Damon was seated in a chair a little ways away from where Stefan still lay sleeping, sipping a cup of blood.<p>

He rubbed a hand tiredly over his eyes. He had not gotten any sleep – having to periodically check over his brother and see if any change had occurred. Who knew what else the spell had done to him? Damon was beginning to wonder though if Stefan had slipped into some kind of coma for god's sake. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Stefan sleep so much.

He had called Bonnie earlier, after informing Elena that Stefan was still the same, and asked if she had made any progress. She informed him, rather rudely he thought, that she had found more than just one book concerning reversal spells and that they didn't consist of the same size of a children's book – so, no, she was still working on it.

Damon had wanted to say more on the matter, but Bonnie quickly cut off and Damon had just settled to curse her again and poured himself another drink.

_Why must Stefan always get himself caught in these situations?_ Damon sighed again.

As he was pondering whether he should call Bonnie again, his hearing picked up slight shuffling and a small groan. Directing his attention towards his younger brother he noticed that he finally seemed to be waking up.

Moving his chair closer to where Stefan was sleeping, Damon sat back and quietly waited for him to fully wake.

Stefan slowly opened his eyes as he furrowed his forehead and slightly moaned in pain again from his bruise. He slowly edged himself up from the bed looking disoriented and confused. His eyes finally landed on Damon and he gave a slight gasp of surprise.

Damon raised his eyebrows. "Well, well, well. Sleeping beauty has finally awoken. And just in time for school too," Damon smirked knowing full well that it was a Saturday.

Stefan looked back at him, looking very confused and unsure.

"D-Damon?"

Damon gave him a look. "In the flesh. Who did you think I was?"

Stefan seemed to be scrutinizing him. "You look…different." Had the situation not been as messed up as it was, Stefan's comment and facial expressions might have been funny.

Damon simply settled to roll his eyes. "And how, Saint Stefan, am I suppose to look?" Damon appeared slightly annoyed and indifferent to his brother's actions but he was starting to get concerned, again. It definitely seemed like the spell had affected his brother even more than they had all thought.

Stefan seemed to be taken aback by Damon's tone but nonetheless answered him. "Well, you're dressed oddly and your hair looks different." Damon raised his eyes at this and Stefan shrugged. His gaze finally wandered around his room and his eyes widened even further.

Stefan looked back at Damon, fear apparent. "Damon, where I am? What's going on!" The younger brother shifted up further and winced again from agitating his wound. Looking down, Stefan finally noticed where his source of pain was coming from.

"How did I get this? What's happened to me?" Damon moved from his chair to stand closer to his brother in an attempt to calm him down before he went hysterical.

"Stefan, Stefan. Calm down. You're safe, everything's fine." Damon tried to sound soothing and it seemed to be working. Stefan appeared to have calmed down somewhat from his words and the panic in his eyes was less severe.

Damon continued, "And you got that yesterday," He pointed to Stefan's chest. "Don't you remember?"

Stefan looked down at his bruise again, and slowly back up at Damon, shaking his head. "No, I don't remember when I got this.." Stefan trailed off.

_Crap. This cannot be good. _Damon dreaded the next question he knew he had to ask.

"Well, what do you remember?"

Stefan thought back. "I remember that Father had just allowed Miss Katherine to come and stay with us." Damon's face got dark at this and slightly angry upon just hearing the mention of Katherine, and the remembrance of how that bitch had got involved in his life. Stefan, however, had not taken any notice of this and continued on. "And you had just come home on leave." Stefan glanced up at him with an innocent and happy smile.

Damon stared down at his little brother in slight shock, trying to ignore how his stupid grin had somehow made his undead heart hurt. "And that's ALL you remember?" Stefan started to nod as Damon interrupted him, "No jokes now Stefan, this is serious." Damon gave him an angry look.

Once again, Stefan flinched at his words and stared at his brother with complete honesty. "I swear to you brother, that's what I remember."

Damon turned away from Stefan suddenly and outwardly groaned – his fears confirmed.

_Damn it! Now he has amnesia as well! And, of course, his memory sets back to __**before**__ he knew about vampires!_ Damon thought furiously as he dreaded how he was now faced with how he was going to explain everything to Stefan.

Turning back to his brother he noticed that Stefan was staring back at him in confusion again – obviously wondering what the hell was wrong with Damon.

Stefan got up from the bed and looked around the room again. "Damon, why aren't we at home? Why is this room so…strange?"

Damon panicked a little. _What the hell am I going to say?_

"Well, Stefan..it's very complicated. But you're not exactly in 1864 anymore."

Stefan eyes almost popped out of their sockets at this. "What do you mean? How can we not be in 1864 anymore!"

Damon rolled his eyes at Stefan. "Obviously you have noticed that the "strange things" in this room are not from the 1800s time period." Stefan eyes roamed around the room again. "And to put it plainly, we are now in the twenty-first century." Damon knew this one would go over well.

Stefan stared back at him with shock, mouth agape, as his whole world seemed to crash. "But-but, Damon, how can this be possible! If we really were in this century, then how are we still alive?"

Damon gave him a quirky smile. "Ahh, now that is the million dollar question, Stefan." Stefan looked at him oddly and sat back down on the bed, forehead creasing in worry.

_At least the spell didn't change one thing – Stefan can still brood as well as he ever could._

For a long while the brothers stayed in silence. Stefan sitting at the edge of the bed, very lost in thought while Damon stood facing him, waiting patiently for him to say something.

Stefan finally looked back up to him. "What happened between the last thing I remembered and now? Do you remember everything or are you like me too?"

Damon looked back at him with a hard stare. "No. I'm not like you," Stefan couldn't help but flinch at his cold tone. "I remember everything that happened. You just recently had a little accident that made you forget." Damon sighed again.

Stefan nodded and then felt around his chest again. Damon took note of this. "Come on. I'll take you downstairs and I'll get you something for the pain."

* * *

><p>Nodding back his older brother, Stefan stood up and followed him out of the very strange room. Stefan couldn't believe what was happening. None of this made any sense. How could he possibly <strong>not<strong> be in 1864 anymore?

But as much as Stefan wanted to deny this, his surroundings made it painfully clear how much he couldn't. Numerous objects, pictures, and the house itself, proved that Stefan was no longer in a territory he understood. Every part of this scared him but he trusted his big brother enough to know that everything would be all right. Even if his big brother seemed a little angrier than usual..

Finally entering the kitchen, Damon made a motion to have him sit down at a table while he went to go get him some type of medicine. Stefan expected his brother to be gone for at least a couple of minutes, but in what seemed like mere seconds, Damon was back, went over to an area with a lever of sorts and came back with what appeared to be a plain glass with water.

"Drink this." Damon commanded and stretched his hand out for him to take the glass. Stefan said a quiet thank you, and took a couple of sips.

Damon watched him for a moment then spoke up. "I have to call someone," His brother gave him an odd look at this, which Damon just ignored. "I'll be back soon."

Stefan nodded back at him, "Okay," giving Damon a small smile he took another sip of his water and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Damon watched as this naive Stefan once again took notice of everything in the kitchen, in apparent astonishment.

Damon steeled himself away from his innocent looking little brother and made his way out of the room. He quickly pulled out his phone and dialed Elena.

"Damon! Did he wake up yet?" Elena asked urgently.

"Yeah, he just woke up a little while ago." Damon answered back.

"How is he?" Elena asked.

"He forgot everything! He's got freaking amnesia, for christ's sake!" Elena gasped on the other end of the line. "His whole mind has been set back to 1864."

"Oh my god." Elena didn't know what else to say.

"I swear that witch better be ready for me the next time I see her!" Damon furiously shouted. Right now he couldn't give a damn if Bonnie would just make his head explode the moment he pounced on her; he was much too angry to be thinking rationally.

"Damon, relax! Bonnie didn't know how badly the spell could have gone! This wasn't supposed to happen!" Elena sounded exasperated.

Damon rolled his eyes angrily. "Yeah well, this just shows how she shouldn't be messing around with things she doesn't understand. And if she's going to be an idiot about it, not to involve my brother!" Damon growled.

Elena was taken aback by how protective Damon sounded. She always knew that Damon felt this way about Stefan but didn't think she'd ever hear or see him show it. She figured Damon himself was too angry at the situation to even see what it was doing to him.

Elena took a deep breath and tried to calm Damon. "Look, I'm going to go over to Bonnie's and try to see if she's figured something out, alright."

"Fine." Damon ended the call without polite goodbyes and ran a hand through his hair. He turned back to where his brother was still in the kitchen and sighed again.

_What am I going to do now? _Damon felt at a sudden loss at how to treat Stefan. Every time he looked at him it brought up past feelings he'd rather just bury underneath. Feelings he successfully buried in the present with an easy callous remark or sarcastic quip. Burying it just enough so that he didn't have to completely shut off his humanity to escape the pain.

But now, the mere action of looking at Stefan ruined the whole thing. This Stefan was his little brother – the one who had always idolized him and followed him around, trusting him one hundred percent, and loving him entirely. This Stefan reminded him just how much his current relationship had deteriorated and how much had had failed at being a big brother. This Stefan reminded him that **this** Stefan was still **his** Stefan. And that brought on a whole new pain because then he was forced to acknowledge that everything he had done, he had still done to his baby brother.

Damon gave a cry of anger at everything: the situation, his revelations, his brother, himself, himself, and himself. With a harsh throw, he flung his phone. The cellular device went down to the floor in pieces and left a considerable dent in the wall.

As Damon simply stared at another mess he had created he took a deep breath and buried his feelings inside once again, without becoming a horrific monster vampire bent on a killing rampage.

Now he was ready to go into the kitchen.

* * *

><p>For the hundredth time, Stefan covered his ears in obvious discomfort. The last sound of something breaking had really hurt his ears. Ever since Damon had left to go "call" someone, Stefan had to keep looking back over his shoulder to check and see that Damon and this mysterious person wasn't right behind him.<p>

Damon and the other person was no where in sight but..Stefan could hear everything they had said. And he had no idea how. The voices of his brother and some woman, who had sounded very familiar, had echoed in his head, slightly painfully. Stefan had attempted to block them out and convince himself that he was just imagining the voices by covering his ears and easing his panic but it had done nothing.

Something was definitely wrong with him and it wasn't just his ears. Stefan had also noticed that he was able to see things far away from him in extreme detail. He was also able to pick out smells as if they were strong perfumes – the medicinal smell of his water, the slight aroma of the house he was in, and the familiar smell that he could only describe as being Damon, all around the room his brother had just left – with a slight hint of alcohol.

And for some reason, Stefan also couldn't help but feel extremely hungry – a hunger he had never felt before. Usually when he was hungry, one of his favorite meals would pop into his mind and placate him. But no favorite food images in his mind eased him of this..hunger. He felt very empty in a way he couldn't understand.

At that moment, Damon came walking into the room and immediately noticed Stefan's very panicked demeanor.

"Stefan, what's wrong?" Damon frowned at his brother. _What else was happening?_

Stefan looked up at him panicked and looked on the verge of tears. "Damon," Stefan said his name heart brokenly and Damon's heart once again hurt. Damon came over to Stefan and placed his hands on his little brother's shoulders.

"Stefan, calm down. What's wrong?" The older brother felt a ghost need to hug Stefan, but shrugged it off.

Stefan took a shuddering breath and his scared eyes roamed Damon's face looking for some much needed comfort. "Damon, something's wrong with me! I-I could hear everything you said and what the other woman said!" Damon's eyes widened with realization. Bonnie had said that Stefan had lost all of his offensive vampire traits but he should still have his defensive ones. Stefan had just discovered his heightened hearing ability.

Stefan continued on, interrupting Damon's thoughts. "And I can see everything so well and smell things I shouldn't and I just want it to stop!" Stefan shouted in despair, his hair falling into his tear filled scared eyes.

Damon sucked in a breath and wished his brother would stop looking at him like that – expecting him to do what big brother Damon would do and make everything go away. And yet, his eyes softened. "Stefan, deep breaths okay? It's okay. It's all right. You're alright okay."

Stefan seemed to calm down a little. And Damon braced himself for what he had to say next.

"Stefan, there is a reason why you're experiencing these things," Stefan looked nervously at Damon. "Stefan, you're a vampire. I'm a vampire," His younger brother just stared at him, "and we've been vampires for about 145 years."

For a moment, Stefan just continued staring. Then he gave Damon a pointed look. "A vampire? Like what father raves about? Like what you make fun of?" Stefan just gave him another skeptical look.

"Well, that was before – before any of us knew," Damon purposely left out Katherine. "And who wouldn't want to poke fun at Father? He was pathetic." Damon sneered, letting out some of his repressed feelings about his late father; not caring that Stefan would be upset at him saying this.

"Damon! How can you say that about Father? And stop lying to me about all this vampire nonsense!" Stefan said angrily.

Damon was not in the mood to deal with Stefan's ignorance and replied back darkly, "I'll say what ever I want about that backstabbing bastard. And I'm **not** lying about us being vampires! Why do you think you are experiencing all of these heightened senses! Pull your head out of your ass and think about it? How else could we still be here in this time if we weren't!" Damon shouted.

Stefan had been frozen the entire time Damon had shouted at him. Damon had never looked so angry with Stefan as he had now. But how could Stefan possibly believe him? He was talking about made up monsters that were just that – imaginary!

Stefan looked bravely up at his brother, as though he knew that this action would probably upset his older brother even further. "You're lying! Vampires can't exist! I can't be a demon.." Stefan trailed off the last part sadly.

Knowing his little brother would never understand any other way, Damon allowed all his anger to pool up and felt the veins on his skin begin to pop, his eyes darken, and his fangs rip out of his gums.

"How about now, brother?" Damon barred his teeth at his younger brother.

Stefan cried out in shock and fear. He abruptly fell out from his chair and started to run out of the kitchen, terrified for his life.

His anger now gone, Damon's face returned to normal and he ran full speed to stop his little brother from running out of the house. Stefan barely made it past the living room before Damon had easily caught up with him and appeared in front of him.

"Stefan, stop!" Damon held his hands out in front of him and Stefan gasped in shock at the speed that Damon possessed.

"What have you done with my brother! Where's Damon, you demon!" Stefan cowered back away from Damon and his face was beyond upset; tears almost falling from his face and agony written on his features from the confusion of everything around him.

Damon hated himself for what he had just done. Why didn't he just try harder to convince Stefan? Why did he do this to his innocent brother? Stefan had now fallen down onto the floor and was holding his head into his hands.

Damon crouched down beside him and hesitantly held a hand towards his little brother. "I'm sorry, Stefan. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I-", Damon broke off as Stefan spoke again.

"Please, please don't hurt me. I-I'm sorry. I don't understand. I just want Damon, I want my big brother." Stefan started crying in misery and Damon realized that Stefan's emotions were being even more heightened due to him being a vampire.

"It is me, little brother. It's Damon." Damon attempted to put his hands on Stefan's shoulders, but Stefan pushed them back in fear.

"You're not Damon, you're not Damon! It doesn't matter if you look like him. You're a monster, you did something. You're not him!" Stefan looked back at him stubbornly, but still completely terrified. Of his own brother. Damon had made Stefan feel many things toward him, especially in the last couple of years, but never had his brother been afraid of him.

Damon's voice broke," Stefan, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you so much. I just didn't know how to convince you. I'm so, so sorry, my baby brother. So sorry, Stef." Damon dropped his head.

Stefan glanced up when Damon had used his nickname and looked at Damon. Stefan's fear started to lessen as he studied him carefully. After observing him, Stefan asked softly, "Damon? Is that really you?"

Damon's head came up and he looked back at his little brother's still scared but now trusting eyes. After all he had just put his brother through, Stefan was still willing to take a leap of faith and believe that this was his big brother. His heart hurt even more painfully.

"Yes, Stefan. It's me, little brother." Damon said gently.

Stefan suddenly threw his arms around Damon and hugged him fiercely. Damon hesitantly wrapped his own around his brother, somewhat stiffly. He couldn't remember the last time he had hugged Stefan.

Stefan seemed to want to hang on more, but Damon gave a subtle sign of wanting to let go and Stefan complied somewhat hesitantly.

Damon looked Stefan straight in the eyes. "Stefan, I'm sorry. I didn't want to scare you. I just wanted you to believe me."

Stefan nodded slowly and smiled slightly at Damon. "It's alright. I was being annoying about it any way." Stefan gave him another small grin and then unexpectedly yawned.

Damon frowned at Stefan's odd tiredness but ignored it and gave his younger brother a grin as well. "Yeah, but believing everything you've had to today isn't easy."

Stefan nodded. "I still barely believe it, but the evidence is," Stefan glanced at Damon's face again, "staggering." He gave his older brother a mock serious look.

Damon looked at his brother and gave a small laugh. "Stefan cracks a funny, alert the media." He said this softly and almost didn't expect Stefan to hear him, but then he remembered again and noticed Stefan looking at him almost defensively.

"Hey, I heard that! And I can be funny," Stefan pouted.

Damon just gave another small laugh at his little brother's pouting face.

* * *

><p>After they both got off the floor, they returned back to the kitchen and sat down at the table. Stefan immediately started asking questions.<p>

"So, I really am a vampire?" Damon just nodded.

Stefan looked nervous. "And I can make that…face too?"

"Yes, well, not right now." Stefan frowned at this.

Damon looked around and sighed. "It's all a little complicated, but the short version is that a certain spell was cast and all your offensive vampire abilities have been stripped from you." Stefan simply continued listening, not interrupting. "So, that means that your fangs," Stefan winced at this, "are gone because that's a vampire's most lethal weapon. I'm guessing the "scary face" goes along with that." Damon smirked.

"Besides that, you can only move as fast as a human can," Stefan pouted again, "and your strength is the same, healing is gone, basically all the traits that make vampires so dangerous."

Stefan looked slightly put out. "I sound like the wimpiest vampire ever."

Damon laughed again at the irony of that statement. "You weren't always like this Stefan. Just since yesterday." Damon smiled a secret smile.

"Right. When I had a … spell cast on me?" Stefan looked incredulous at the spell part.

"Yes, I know. A lot to take in. Basically, a witch did it – and yes witches exist." Damon added at Stefan's look of surprise.

Stefan just looked off in thought for a while. "Any other creatures I should know about?"

Damon thought. "Well, we just found out about werewolves." Stefan looked scared again.

"Don't worry. They're all talk." Damon reassured. Stefan still looked worried but nodded.

They both sat in silence again, thinking about everything that had happened so far in the day. Incredibly, it was barely past noon.

"Damon," Stefan spoke up. "I feel really, I don't know, hungry I guess. But hungry is not exactly the right word."

Damon's eyes widened at this and thought back on what Bonnie had said when he asked if Stefan would still drink blood. _And another screw up for the witch_, Damon thought dryly.

"Yeah, well I know you don't know much about vampires but they need blood to survive." Damon said softly. His younger brother looked slightly alarmed at this.

"I have to …drink blood?"

Damon looked unsure. "We weren't sure yesterday if you would need to, but the way you're describing your hunger, that's what it sounds like." "Don't worry," He added at Stefan's look of objection, "You drink animal blood. And I already have some in the fridge." Stefan looked confused as to what a "fridge" was but Damon just got up and walked over to what Stefan assumed was the fridge.

Stefan looked on nervously as Damon put a mug of what he assumed was animal blood in another futuristic device and started to panic.

_I can't drink blood! There's just no way! _Stefan was going to be stubborn about this. But he knew that Damon would never agree. He had to think quickly on how to get out of this.

All of a sudden, a loud ringing noise sounded and seemed to reverberate off the ceiling. Stefan clutched at his ears again and Damon looked over at Stefan.

"Don't worry. It's just the bell – a device used to tell people inside a house if there are people outside who want to talk to them. And you'll get used to the new hearing," Damon winked at Stefan.

Damon then took the mug of blood out of the other device and placed it in front of Stefan. "Look, I have to get that – it could be the witch from yesterday," Stefan gave him another weird look at the word witch again but Damon once again, just ignored it. "Um, just sit here and make sure you drink all of that, ok?" Stefan nodded earnestly at Damon, but Damon just raised his eyebrows.

"I'm serious Stefan. Drink it." Damon nodded at him again and walked out of the room, presumably to answer the strangers outside.

Stefan smiled happily to himself. _Well, that was easy_, he thought slightly mischievously. He felt somewhat bad about lying to his big brother, but he couldn't help it. There was just no way he could drink blood! Besides, Damon himself wasn't sure what the spell had exactly done – he was probably wrong about this and Stefan was just normally hungry.

Stefan grabbed the warm mug and quickly went over to what Damon had earlier mentioned was a sink. Stefan tipped the mug down and the blood seeped out quickly from the cup. Before it was completely empty, Stefan dipped his finger and slightly spread some on his face, as if he had been so hungry he couldn't help but have made a mess. He then tipped up what looked like a lever of sorts, and to his relief, water flowed out.

Perking his ears, Stefan still heard voices from where he assumed the door was, some shouting angrily – Damon – and watched as the sink was wiped clean from any traces of blood as the water continued to pour out.

Satisfied with his work, Stefan ran back to where he was sitting and set the mug down. He had left some blood on the bottom and had not cleaned it to make it not appear suspicious. Just as he heard the voices coming closer and becoming louder, Stefan grabbed the mug up again and tilted it to his mouth, pretending to drink from it.

Damon was furious. Again. Bonnie and Elena had turned up with no answers. None. Bonnie had claimed she had looked at almost five books from cover to cover but had found no useful spells. She had brought back even more with her though to the house and planned to have a look at those here. She also explained that she was trying to get into contact with the witch she had gotten the book from and was expecting back an answer soon.

Damon resisted the urge to fling Bonnie across the door the whole time, especially during Elena's pointed looks, and merely nodded after she had finished.

"Alright, well, come inside then."

Damon told the girls to wait in the living room while he would update Stefan on what was going on. He quickly informed them that he had just recently told Stefan about how he was a vampire and the spell, but hadn't mentioned anything about Katherine and to not bring any such topic up around him.

They both nodded consent and Elena waited eagerly for Damon to return, desperately wanting to see her boyfriend again.

Damon entered the kitchen again and noticed that his younger brother looked as if he was just finishing his cup of blood. As Stefan took notice of Damon entering, he placed the mug down and looked towards him.

Damon took note of the slight blood smeared around Stefan's mouth and resisted the urge to laugh. He didn't want to admit it, but his brother had managed to look very adorable – despite the fact that he had blood all over his mouth. It brought him back to a memory of a toddler Stefan trying to eat food on his own without help.

"I see you enjoyed your drink." Damon smirked lightly. "Next time I'll teach you the proper manners so you can drink some in the company of guests." Stefan gave him a look then that looked so like the Stefan from just days ago that Damon's breath almost caught in his throat. Then he blinked and his little brother was staring at him innocently.

Damon passed Stefan a napkin and placed the mug over by the sink.

"Speaking of guests, there are some in the kitchen waiting for us." He gestured to where the living room was. "Shall we?" Damon smirked and raised his eyebrows.

Stefan just nodded again and gave him a small smile. Brushing his bangs away from his face, Stefan glanced back at the empty mug of blood at the sink and continued to follow his brother, trying to ignore the empty pain in his stomach.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Uh-oh. Stefan should have listened to Damon! And I decided to just say 'twenty-first century' because I don't know if it's 2009 or 2010 in season 2. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: First of all, I want to apologize to everyone for taking so long to update! I had been gone for a couple days and I had meant to get this chapter up before I left, but I hadn't finished it yet and well, here we are. So, once again I'm really sorry about the long wait!**

**Anonymous reviews below =)**

**v-babe - **Yes, Damon is sure to be a tad upset ;) Awww, thank you! Haha, yes Stefan was really adorable! Thanks again!

**iGG - **As you requested ;)

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><p>Elena and Bonnie were just starting to dig into some new books when the boys entered the room.<p>

Elena's eyes immediately sought out Stefan and noticed that he was lingering uncertainly behind Damon. She also noted that he was in the same clothes as they had found him in yesterday and appeared slightly warn out.

As Damon was about to speak, Stefan got a closer look at the girls sitting on the couch and suddenly gasped.

"Miss Katherine?" Stefan was stunned as he stared at Elena.

Damon gave a groan as Elena started to get up from the couch. Damon, however, gave her a pointed look to sit back down – not wanting to scare Stefan further.

"No Stefan. That's not Katherine. Sorry, I should have explained earlier," Damon mentally berated himself as he saw how confused his brother looked. How could he have forgotten how shocked his brother would be at the sight of Elena?

Stefan looked from Elena to Damon. "I don't understand.." The poor boy looked tired of finding surprises.

Damon sighed. "Look, it's a long story, but this is Elena. She looks identical to Katherine for reasons that are best left unexplained." Damon ended cryptically, looking very closed off. Stefan looked over at his brother and seemed hurt at Damon's response.

Elena couldn't stand Stefan's pained expression and finally got up from the couch despite Damon's continued glare. She walked over to where the brothers were standing and calmly tried to explain herself to the confused Stefan.

"Stefan, it's all very complicated but you should know that Katherine was a vampire." Stefan looked shocked again but allowed Elena to continue. "Before she was a vampire though, she had a baby and I'm one of her descendents. We just found out that I'm referred to as a doppelganger and that's why I look identical to Katherine." Elena stopped there.

Everyone waited while Stefan processed all this new information. After a while, the younger Salvatore looked up at Elena again.

"Is Katherine the one who made Damon and I vampires?" Elena looked shocked for a moment at the question. Her eyes softened but Damon was the one who answered.

"Yes, Stefan. It was Katherine who caused us to turn." Damon said this quietly.

Stefan's eyes looked pained again and he nodded to himself. "I'm not sure if I understand much of," Stefan turned his head towards Elena again, "what you all just said. But I'll try my best to help with whatever I can." Stefan's expression turned serious at this.

Elena smiled at this and looked like she wanted to hug her boyfriend but stopped herself. She had purposely left off the fact that she and Stefan were dating. She didn't want to bombard him with all this information.

As Stefan had talked, Damon had looked questionably at his younger brother again. When Stefan had said he would try his best to help, he had sounded very much like the Stefan Damon had known over the last century. Always wanting to help. _Be the hero._

Of course, his little brother had always been sensitive and _annoyingly_ nice, Damon thought smirking. But that statement was exactly what the Stefan of this time would say. As if he had dealt with previous endeavors and despite not knowing all the facts, would not give up if he couldn't help in some way.

Damon examined Stefan again but his little brother's expression was neutral and it seemed as though he hadn't even noticed his serious words just moments ago.

_I'll have to keep an eye out for that again…_ Damon thought, walking over to the fireplace and creating a nice fire for the group while they would work.

Elena then motioned Stefan to come over by her and Bonnie on the couch but Stefan gave a slight shake of the head and settled to where Damon had isolated himself on the couch facing away from the rest of the group. Damon gave Stefan a confused look as his younger brother gave him a shy smile and seated himself on the other end.

Bonnie cleared her throat, "Alright then, let's get to it."

* * *

><p>Hours later saw the gang frustrated at not finding any solutions.<p>

Bonnie slammed down the latest book she had searched through. It was starting to look pretty bad. However, she found she didn't how to exactly break the news. Every time she looked over at Stefan - who after she had kindly explained what he should look for, had been bent over in concentration, staring intently at the pages – she felt extremely guilty again. She didn't want to break his hope.

And Damon would surely try to kill her again. Not that she couldn't throw him off her if she needed to, but still, she'd rather not have another fiasco with Damon if she could avoid it._ Let's just get this over with,_ Bonnie thought solemnly.

Bonnie cleared her throat. "Okay guys," everyone looked up at this, "I'm starting to think none of these books are going to be helpful. Unless, any of you guys have found anything new." Everyone shook their head at this.

Elena shifted on the couch and put her book down on the table. "Well, are there other resources we could use or new books or something? Maybe we're just not looking in the right direction."

Bonnie's eyes lighted up. "Elena! That's it! Maybe the books won't help us but other witches can. I already tried to contact the one I borrowed the book I used the spell from, but she still hasn't responded."

Damon eyes darkened at this. "Do I need to go over there and have a chat to get a response?" Damon threatened.

Bonnie shot Damon a look. "No, I'd recommend not to." She said sarcastically. "I'll go over there myself and ask her. But, I'm going to ask some of Grams friends and maybe they'll have some new ideas. They have been doing this much longer then I have – it'll probably be almost like a common mistake to them." Bonnie finished happily; content she had found another game plan.

Damon looked less convinced. "Huh, well I'm glad you feel so confident about that. But if I remember correctly, this is exactly how you felt when you said that these books would surely have a reverse spell!" Damon threw his book across the room angrily and Stefan jumped slightly.

"Damon!" Elena sent him a stern glance. "For the millionth time, calm down! Let's not freak out until after Bonnie has contacted these other witches. Besides, it has only been one day." Elena felt bad about saying it, but Bonnie had already worked herself all night and this afternoon over tons of books. Elena was worried that Bonnie would put herself into overdrive again and that's exactly what got them into this mess.

Bonnie spoke up. "Elena, Damon's right." Elena and Damon almost dropped their jaws at this. "This is my fault and until we start seeing some results, I'm not going to be overconfident about it. But do know that I will not give up until I have solved this." Bonnie looked over at Damon determined and he consented with a nod.

Elena blew out some air. "Whew. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I sure am hungry!" She smiled.

Stefan immediately perked up from where he was sitting. _Hungry?_

He couldn't even describe what he was feeling right now. He had been _hungry_ hours ago. Now his entire body felt weak and extremely sore – moving the slightest inch caused him pain. And there still was that hollow empty feeling that he knew somehow related to hunger.

Elena continued on, smiling at Bonnie. "Why don't we go to the Grill and take a break?" Bonnie looked doubtful about this. "Come on Bonnie! It's only for a little while and we all deserve a break for just one night. " Elena pointed out.

"Ok, I guess we can take a little break." Bonnie smiled back at Elena.

Elena then turned to Stefan, who had been staring at the girls anxiously. "Stefan, would you like to come?" She noticed that Stefan's eyes flickered over to Damon's.

Elena responded quickly. "Damon can come too!"

Stefan seemed to instantly become happy with this and was about to respond when Damon cleared his throat. "**We** will not be going." Elena and Stefan both frowned.

"Well, if you don't want to come that's alright. But why can't Stefan come?" Elena was getting annoyed with Damon. She really missed Stefan and even though she knew that he didn't know about their relationship she didn't care. She wanted to spend time with him and possibly get to know more about what he was like in 1864.

Damon remained adamant to Elena's pleas and rolled his eyes at her as if the answer were obvious. "Because _Elena_. Have you forgotten that Stefan isn't exactly himself right now?" Damon gestured to his brother, who was still sitting quietly on the couch beside him. "He doesn't understand this time and surely going out in public will not help. Plus, what is he going to do if people come up to him and he has no idea who they are? Not to mention the fact that he looks different."

"He'll be with Bonnie and I, it's not like we'll leave him to fend for himself! If someone comes up to him I'll handle it. And he can change clothes." Elena rolled her eyes back at Damon.

"Yeah? And what about his hair? It's gotten _slightly_ longer in the past few days to pass for normal hair growth." Damon shot back.

"Oh please, Damon! I can cut it!" Elena continued to argue.

For the first time since the two started arguing, Stefan spoke up. "I don't want my hair cut." He said.

Elena and Damon looked back at Stefan. Elena was slightly stunned to hear him object but Damon looked smug. He remembered how Stefan had always liked his hair grown out and would fight tooth and nail to never have it cut short.

Damon smirked back at Elena. "He'll never let you cut it."

Elena sighed. "But Stefan, in this time your hair is cut much shorter."

Stefan looked back at Elena stunned. "Why would I ever do that?" Damon looked amused at his question.

Elena just shook her head while Damon chuckled. "It doesn't matter. Damon, he can still go out with his hair like that. We'll just go somewhere out of town so no one will recognize him."

Damon shook his head again. "Forget it Elena. He's not going. I'd really rather not deal with more problems resulting from this spell," Elena started to speak up again when Damon gave her one last look, "That's final." Elena sighed defeated and slowly nodded.

All while this was going on, Stefan was freaking out_. Oh no! Damon won't let me go! How will I ever get this pain to go away now!_

The younger Salvatore was beginning to panic. His plan had been that he would go with the nice girls he was apparently friends with, and hopefully solve his hunger issue by actually eating food – without Damon telling him to just drink blood. He knew that the moment he told Damon what was happening, he would find out that Stefan had not listened to him and Stefan was afraid of what this Damon would do to him.

The Damon he knew was still one to fear if he was in trouble, but this Damon was on a whole new level. Not to mention a vampire.

"Damon -" Stefan started but Damon quickly interrupted him.

"Quiet Stefan. You're not going." Damon gave him a very pointed look and Stefan immediately shut up. Though on the inside he was pouting. He was embarrassed that Damon was treating him like a child in front of the girls._ I am not a child. _Stefan sulked.

"Come on Elena. We should go." Bonnie gestured to Elena and she helped her gather all the books.

"I'll let you know how my contact with the other witches go." Bonnie told Damon.

Elena waved to where Stefan was still sitting. "Bye Stefan. See you soon." Stefan gave her a small smile and Damon then saw them out.

* * *

><p>"Well, that was a waste of a day." Damon said as he came back into the living room.<p>

Stefan glared up at him. "Damon, why didn't you let me go? I can handle myself. You acted like I was a child."

Damon barely spared him a glance. He was used to Stefan's pouting despite it being many years since Stefan had acted like his age.

"Stefan, I really don't want to get into this. You are not from here – you can't just go out. At least not on the second day." Damon said.

Truth be told, Damon wasn't sure if he was ever going to let Stefan leave the house until the spell was reversed. Especially with the recent wolf activity and that bitch Jules. Stefan may still be vampire, but he could honestly pass as a human in the state he was in now. There was no way he could be expected to be in any fights and Damon couldn't risk any unwanted attention.

The younger Salvatore merely sighed at his brother. "Okay. I understand."

Damon raised his eyebrows at the admission. Looking at his little brother for a minute he spoke up, "Come on. We should get you in some normal clothes."

After showing Stefan what a shower was and where he could find some clothing in his room, Damon resigned himself to a drink downstairs and settled down to relax by gazing at the fireplace.

After thirty minutes, Damon heard Stefan slowly shuffle down the stairs and glanced up at him as he walked into the room. Stefan was now dressed in jeans and a simple blue plaid shirt. He almost looked like the Stefan from a few days ago if it weren't for his still long hair, which was slightly damp and messy.

Stefan walked over to where Damon was sitting. "Damon, I think I'm going to rest a little bit upstairs." The warm water from the shower had done nothing to soothe all of his body aches, and the pain was quickly intensifying. Stefan was hoping that some rest might help.

"Alright. What about your wound? Is it feeling okay? Do you want some medicine?" Damon asked.

Stefan felt around to where the red bruise was on his chest. It still brought some pain but it was nothing compared to how the rest of his body was feeling. And the thought of putting medicine in his stomach made him feel unexpectedly nauseous.

"Um, that's okay Damon. Thank you." Stefan smiled slightly and Damon just nodded.

Damon watched as his brother made his way up the stairs again at a sort of sluggish pace and got a bad feeling again. He hoped his brother wasn't too angry with him for not letting him go out.

* * *

><p>It was almost ten at night and his younger brother still hadn't emerged from his room. That had been hours ago and Damon was getting a little worried.<p>

_I should probably check on him. See if he's hungry for some more blood maybe._

Damon also wanted to check and see if Stefan was still mad at him and possibly if his bruise was hurting him. It probably had been earlier, but Stefan was being stubborn as usual and Damon hadn't wanted to get into another argument with him. Just as Damon was about to get up, he heard footsteps on the stairs and sensed his younger brother coming down.

"Finally. Look, I hope you're not still mad at me." Damon started.

"Damon." Stefan said faintly.

Damon frowned and quickly turned around at his brother's voice. Stefan was standing at the foot of the stairs and looked like he was barely holding on. He was very pale and seemed almost to be trembling.

Damon got up immediately. "Stefan, what's wrong?"

His little brother looked at him weakly. "Damon, something- something is wrong with me. I feel-" Stefan barely got it out before he started falling.

"Stefan!" Damon sped to his younger brother and caught him just before he could fall to the floor. "Whoa! Stefan, what's going on?" Damon was freaking out. What was causing his brother to almost faint?

Stefan responded weakly. "My whole body is in agony! I'm so empty, I feel terrible."

Damon's eyes widened at this. "You're hungry? But, I gave you some blood earlier today, you shouldn't be feeling this bad.." Damon trailed off confused.

Stefan looked back up at him ashamed. "I'm sorry.."

Realization took over and Damon felt rage quickly spring upon him. He stared daggers down on his brother. "You didn't drink it, did you?" He didn't expect an answer. Damon growled at his brother and then grabbed onto his arms and pinned him harshly against the wall. Stefan gave a cry of pain and looked back frightened at his brother's actions.

"You are going to drink blood. Now!" Damon was barely controlling himself. How could his brother have been so stupid? And how dare he lie to him!

"No, please Damon! I don't want to drink blood, please!" Stefan almost sobbed.

"You're drinking it, even if I have to force it down your throat!" Damon said furiously. His anger took over as his face changed and he bit into his wrist, hard and deep. Damon then forced his bleeding wrist into Stefan's mouth and Stefan stared back at him in horror. He tried to struggle against Damon but it was completely useless. With his strength gone and already being extremely weak, Stefan was absolutely no match for him.

After his little brother had pointlessly fought back, which Damon had to admit he had admired, he began to give in to the blood and suck in willingly. A few minutes into it, Stefan was firmly latched onto his brother's wrist and got very relaxed as his eyes began to droop.

"Alright, brother. That will do." Damon pulled back his wrist, certain that his younger brother wouldn't refuse the blood now. As if on cue, Stefan whined slightly. It was no wonder really, after starving himself for so long of the blood he desperately needed.

"Don't worry, Stef. I'll get you some animal blood." Damon said softly as Stefan zoned out – still very weak. When Stefan gave no response, Damon became worried again.

He quickly released his little brother from his pinned position on the wall and easily gathered him into his arms and carried him back up to his room. All the while, Stefan gave no objection. He then gently laid his brother down on his bed and muttered a quick "be back soon" and made a quick dash back to where the blood bags were stored in the basement. After quickly heating the blood in the microwave, Damon sped back up the stairs to Stefan's room carrying a large mug.

Stefan lay on the bed still semi-awake and whining softly – needing the blood. His body had seemed to go into a sort of survival state – relying on pure instinct. Damon wondered if his brother was truly conscious of all that was going on. Damon hurried over to where his brother lay and brought the mug up to his mouth, tilting his head up. Stefan steadily drank through it, occasionally looking up at Damon.

"That's good Stefan." Damon praised after the younger boy had finished all the blood. Stefan gave a small smile in response. Damon then proceeded to make another run and was back shortly with another mug. Damon watched intently as Stefan finished the second glass.

"You should rest now." Damon said, glad that some color had returned to his brother's face and his body was more relaxed.

Stefan stretched his hand out to grip Damon's shirt in an act to get more blood, but his whining had stopped and he looked very exhausted – his eyes barely open. Damon reasoned that he could wake Stefan up in a couple hours for another round of blood, but now was the time for his little brother to sleep.

"No, Stef. You need to sleep now." Damon sighed and gently extracted Stefan's weak grip on his black shirt and placed him more securely on the bed. Stefan, however, seemed content to just stare silently at his brother. Damon frowned at this. _Little brothers can be so stubborn sometimes._

"Stefan, you're very tired. Please go to sleep. Don't worry, I'll give you more to drink after you get some rest." Damon was getting nervous again and he cursed his emotions. What was there to get nervous about?

But looking over at his still weak and exhausted little brother was all it took to remember hardly an hour ago and him falling to the floor, barely able to function..his immediate anger…anger to cover the fear..

_Damn it Stefan! Just get to sleep already so I can stop these emotions!_ Damon fumed upset. His eyes were unable to not soften however as Stefan started to quietly mumble something to him.

"What?" Damon strained his super hearing and leaned in closer.

"I'm s-sorry." His little brother moved his up to look closer at Damon, his half-lidded eyes guilty and sad.

Damon audibly sighed. _Curse your damn puppy face. _

"Sleep now." Damon moved his hand over Stefan's bangs and continued to card his hand through the soft, floppy hair until Stefan had finally fallen asleep.

It seemed like he would be spending another night of watching Stefan sleep.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: And I would just like to say I fell in love with the idea of Stefan feeding off of Damon in <strong>**boycrazy30008's story "Something Normal" and got the idea from the author's story and couldn't resist using it in this chapter (I hope you don't mind)!**

** If you haven't checked out boycrazy30008's story, "Something Normal", I totally recommend it! It's great! =D**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Once again, really sorry for the longer wait! This one took me a little longer to get up because I had to plan for where things were going to go. **

**Enjoy! :)**

**iGG: **Thank you SOOO much for your wonderful review! I'm so happy that you like my story that much! I love the drinking part too, it's so cute! Sorry I couldn't get this chapter up for you quickly! Thanks again for one of the sweetest reviews! =))

**tvdrocks: **Haha, thank you! And no problem! Thanks for the review!

**dilweed: **You know, I actually haven't really thought about that. We'll have to see, and thanks!

**Hell: **Yeah, Stefan has a lot to be confused about! Poor guy! Yeah, Damon did manage to control himself somewhat well, lol. Thanks for the review!

**MaraJade: **Thank you! And I'll try to be quicker! ;) Thanks for the review!

**v-babe: **Lol, I'm glad you like it! Damon is a great big brother! I'm glad you like the puppy dog eyes! Thanks for the review!

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><p>Stirring into consciousness, Stefan felt his eyes slowly open and took in his surroundings lazily. He noticed that he was in the room he knew to be his in this time period. Feeling very relaxed from the soft warm fabric brushing against his skin, the young Salvatore also registered that he was in his bed and under the sheets with the comforter pulled up around his body.<p>

Hearing a soft inhale and exhale, Stefan's eyes shifted to the source and found his older brother fast asleep on a chair across the room. He looked to be in a very deep sleep

_Probably exhausted from all the trouble I've caused_, Stefan thought guiltily.

Slowly pulling the sheets and covers back, Stefan made his way over to where Damon sat. The younger brother had to admit; he was slightly surprised that Damon hadn't registered him waking up – what with Damon being all "super-vampire". But if he thought about it, he couldn't remember when he had seen Damon sleep since awakening in this century. He had almost come to believe that (normal) vampires didn't need sleep.

Looking back, he realized that Damon must have been keeping a sharp eye on him and losing sleep in the process. Stefan instantly felt bad about this and gave Damon a sad smile.

_I'm sorry brother._ Stefan wished he could move Damon to a bed, but he also didn't want to wake him. He settled for leaning down and giving him a light kiss on the head, feeling the need to display affection in the absence of giving him a verbal 'thank you' for watching over him.

Moving away, Stefan walked quietly out of his room, itching to use this little bit of freedom to explore the house and other interesting objects he had noticed from the other day. Just the thought of where he was still shocked him!

Walking down the lengthy staircase, Stefan admired the beauty of the boarding house. He wondered what had happened, though, to his home in 1864. Maybe it still existed in Mystic Falls – his father had always made grand praises of "The Salvatore Mansion", everlasting and indestructible.

Reaching the end of the stairs, Stefan moved towards the kitchen and an idea suddenly sprang into his mind. Maybe he could make Damon breakfast as a way of saying thank you! He felt the need to do something. But then, did vampires like anything besides blood? Could vampires even eat normal food?

Stefan decided to test out his little theory by going over to what he heard Damon call a refrigerator, and examined the contents inside. He was relieved when his eyes spotted an apple and immediately grabbed for it. Biting in, Stefan found he still enjoyed the taste of the apple, but when finishing the bite it didn't do much to soothe a distant ache of a different hunger.

_Well, we could have blood on the side. _Stefan shrugged somewhat giddy, happy that vampires didn't resist the taste of normal food.

Just as he was thinking of what, and more importantly, how he was going to make breakfast, he heard the noise of the front door closing softly.

Knowing this to not be Damon, Stefan started to slightly panic.

_Oh no. Who could this be? Should I shout for Damon?_

Stefan had hardly made up his mind when a blur had entered the kitchen, startling him and causing him to jump back. A girl with pretty features and flowing blond hair stood before him.

"Hi Stefan!" The girl practically squealed giving a friendly and excited smile.

"Um, hi." Stefan said shyly. The stranger didn't seem dangerous but she was also a vampire. But then again, she knew his name, so maybe they were friends from before?

The girl looked him over and got excited again. "Awww! Stefan you look sooo cute!" The strange girl gushed. She then seemed to take in his confusion and quickly introduced herself. "I'm Caroline. One of your friends."

"Oh. From before?" Stefan asked.

Caroline nodded. "Yes. And I'm a vampire too, but you probably saw that when I dashed in here," she blushed at this. " Sorry about that! I just got excited when Elena told me about what happened to you and I wanted to see you for myself!"

"Why would you be excited?" Stefan was confused again – it seemed to be his daily routine; wake up from extra sleep, get confused, go back to sleep; with occasional emotional ordeals with Damon.

"Sorry. I don't mean excited about the spell backfiring, but about what Elena told me about you. She said you were adorable – and she was right!"

Stefan shifted uncomfortably again. _Adorable? _Stefan pouted at the thought of everyone treating him like a child.

Seeing his look, Caroline responded swiftly. "It's just that the Stefan from our time is usually very serious and has a more mature look to him. You just seem more like a kid."

Stefan frowned at this. "But I thought I was turned when I was 17?"

"Yes, you were. But the present Stefan rarely acts like his age." Caroline said smiling slightly again. "It's kinda funny. I'm the more experienced and dangerous vampire now!" After having Stefan be her mentor of sorts, it was both a little odd and fun that she could take care of herself better now than Stefan.

Stefan awkwardly scratched his head at this, causing his hair to fall into his eyes. Caroline seemed nice, but a little too perky at the recent turn of events.

"What were you doing?" Caroline asked.

"Um, I was thinking about making breakfast - I know that we don't really eat normal food but maybe we could have it on the side as a drink or.." Stefan felt so embarrassed having to explain his dumb idea.

"Oh!" Caroline clapped her hands at this. "That sounds great! And vampires still like to eat food – especially with a cup of blood on the side." Caroline winked at him.

* * *

><p>After making a simple breakfast of eggs, bacon, and some toast, Stefan was very grateful that Caroline had turned up. He would have had no idea how to make the food without resulting in the house burning down or something like that.<p>

Placing the last plate of food on the table, Stefan turned to Caroline. "Thank you so much Caroline! I would never had been able to do this without you."

Caroline gave him a sweet smile. "No problem sweetie!" Stefan blushed with embarrassment at this.

"I'll go get us some blood." Caroline rushed downstairs and quickly rushed back with different types of blood – animal for Stefan, human for her and Damon.

While pouring the blood into glasses, there was a quick gust of wind and Damon suddenly appeared in the kitchen freshly dressed.

"What is going on here?" Damon raised his eyebrows at the scene.

Stefan quickly walked over to him. "Damon I wanted to say thank you somehow for everything you've done, so I thought I'd make you breakfast."

Damon's eyes widened. Stefan made him breakfast? He was kind of speechless. "Well, that was very nice of you Stefan." Damon said awkwardly. "I do hope there's," his eyes spotted it, "ah yes, blood."

Caroline spoke up. "And there's human blood for us Damon."

"What are you doing here?" Damon walked over to the table and looked questionably at Caroline.

Caroline sniffed. "I wanted to see Stefan."

"She helped me a lot, Damon." Stefan added.

"Well, thank you Barbie." Damon complimented, giving her a mocking grin.

Everyone had seemed to enjoy the little breakfast. Damon couldn't remember the last time breakfast consisted of eating more than just blood and was glad for the change. His little brother also seemed very happy to be eating normal foods. Though Damon pushed him a large glass of blood and watched him sternly to make sure he actually drank it this time.

After clean up, Caroline said her goodbyes and dashed out the door. Stefan sat nervously on his seat at the table while Damon was putting the last dish away. "Damon? Can we do something? Like…play football?"

Startled, Damon immediately stopped and turned around at this. "You want to play…football!" He said incredulously.

"Yes, please! You barely got to show me how it was played." Stefan looked up at him hopefully.

Damon thought back, smiling softly. He remembered when he had taught his younger brother how to play the newly invented sport. He noticed Stefan was giving him a look.

"Oh, don't give me those eyes." Damon rolled his own and frowned. "You really want to…play with me?" Call him crazy, but Damon found himself liking that Stefan wanted to hang out with him - and apparently play football with him.

"Of course! I love hanging out with you, brother!" Stefan gave him a big smile and Damon turned away to hide his own. When did his brother start being so cute?

"Alright, little brother. But remember, you asked for it." Damon gave him a devious smile.

* * *

><p>Running out to the front yard, Damon gripped the football close, breathing in the fresh air. It must have been an old one of Zach's or past guests when they had been allowed in the boarding house. To Stefan, however, the ball looked very slim and new.<p>

"You ready?" Damon smirked back at Stefan.

Stefan smiled and let out a small shout as he charged to where Damon was standing. At first, Damon played along and allowed Stefan to chase him as he ran normal speed around the yard. Stefan quickly caught up to him, always being a fast runner, and retrieved the ball with a shout of glee. He then sped back to what the brothers had established was the other "end zone". Damon laughed to himself as he watched his brother go and then super sped into him, attempting not to give a vampire-strength tackle.

Stefan gasped as he caught from the corner of his eye a blur, and then felt the breath go out of him as Damon tackled into him and fell to the ground. "Ugh, Damon!"

Damon's smile turned into an instant frown. "Stefan, are you okay?" He kneeled down next to his brother.

Stefan suddenly bolted upright. "Gotcha!"

Damon was momentarily taken aback at this but then got angry. "Stefan!"

Stefan raised his hands in defense. "Hey, you're the one who started cheating, brother."

Damon sighed dramatically. "Oh, it was all in the spirit of fun and games. And I knew I was being careful not to hit you, you little jerk!" Stefan laughed back at him and Damon found himself smiling in return. Was he actually enjoying himself with Stefan?

Both brothers then laid back on the grass, content to rest for a while. Damon glanced back at Stefan and noticed him idly touching his bruise. Damon sat up. "Does that hurt?"

Startled out of his thoughts, Stefan sat up as well. "No, only a little. I didn't even notice I was touching it." Stefan admitted.

Damon gestured towards it. "Well, come on then, let me have a look."

Stefan sighed. "Damon, it's fine." He was getting slightly annoyed at how fussy everyone was being.

Damon paid no attention to his younger brother's protests and quickly pulled back his shirt, much to Stefan's embarrassment. The wound still looked nasty but seemed to be improving.

"It does look better." Stefan gave him an "I told you so look" before instantly wiping it off his face at Damon's own look. "Still, we should probably head inside and get some more blood into your system." Stefan nodded and followed his older brother back into the house.

* * *

><p>Jules was waiting. She was currently secluded by the woods near the Salvatore Boarding house and had been watching the house for several days now. With alternating shifts in her "pack", no one had spotted Damon Salvatore leave the house yet.<p>

Jules wasn't sure if she was annoyed or anxious. Probably both. She had been waiting for the perfect time to strike and kill that bastard. By watching him for a couple days, she could learn if he had any patterns; any set times that he would be home or go out so she could plan to attack. However, it would seem that something was going on that was causing him to stay in. And she also hadn't seen his younger brother, Stefan, either, so something must be keeping them in there.

For Jules, it seemed like the perfect moment to go in for the kill. Smirking, Jules moved from her spot and quickly ran back to where the others were waiting for her.

_In just a short time, you will be dead, Damon Salvatore._

* * *

><p>A few nights later saw Damon lounging on the couch. Reflecting on the past few days, Damon had to admit they weren't that bad. Despite his annoyance that Bonnie had yet to come up with a solution, his younger brother wasn't that bad of company. It was kind of nice to have a naïve Stefan who still looked up to him and believed him to be some kind of superhero. Damon laughed to himself. <em>If only you knew little brother.<em>

Stefan was currently in the kitchen putting away dishes from dinner. Damon had found the best way to make Stefan drink blood on a regular basis was to play human and fall into breakfast, lunch, and dinner patterns. It was odd at first, but Damon completely preferred it to not forcing it down his brother's throat, and it was also much easier to see for himself that Stefan was drinking it.

All of a sudden, a figure came crashing through the window to his left. Damon whipped his head back at the intruder. It was an unknown guy in his mid-20s. He charged right for Damon and immediately Damon knew this was a werewolf attack.

Like a flash, Damon sidestepped him and went right for his heart when he felt a needle being pressed into his neck hard. "Ah!" Damon flung the person off his back and kicked the first intruder to the other side of the wall.

Stefan had just about to go back to the living room when he heard his older brother cry out – the sound loud and ringing in his ears. _Damon!_ Stefan panicked and ran out as fast as he could to where Damon was.

Damon had just ripped the heart out of the intruder who shot him with vervain when he heard the door to the house burst open. _Are you kidding me! What the hell is this! _

"Damon!" The older Salvatore felt dread instantly fill his entire body. _Oh no, Stefan._ He had completely forgotten about his younger brother.

"Stefan, get out of here!" A blur went past him and shoved another vervain needle in. "Ah God!" Damon shouted and fell to his knees trying to fight off the effects.

Stefan had no idea what was happening but ran up to one of Damon's attacker's and shoved him off. "Stop!" The attacker looked slightly confused at this but just gave a shrug and punched him roughly and threw Stefan back across the room, causing him to hit the wall hard.

Damon got back up from his position with a growl. _Nobody could touch Stefan. Nobody._ Grabbing a piece of wood from a broken chair and aiming to kill, Damon sped to the guy and stabbed him straight in the heart.

"Ahh." Painfully, Stefan raised his head up his position on the floor to see that Damon had just killed the person who had attacked him. Just as Damon faced the last intruder to kill, Stefan heard a noise from the front door. Trying to get up quickly, he heard the shuffle of footsteps and saw a woman with a type of gun.

_Damon.._

Running as fast as he could, Stefan shoved his older brother out of where he was sure the woman had been aiming. A burning, intense pain was felt somewhere around his shoulder and he gave a small cry of pain as he dropped to the ground.

"Wha- no Stefan!" Damon had barely time to think. One second he was about to kill the last bastard who dared to come into his house, when his little brother had slammed into him. Glancing up he saw Jules standing near the entrance, slightly shocked, with a stake shooter.

And he saw his little brother. Lying on the ground with a stake in his shoulder. With blood quickly spreading over his shirt and onto the floor. He looked up at Jules and pronounced each word slowly and clearly – making sure she understood that each word was important. "You. Are. Dead." Damon growled in fury and rage.

Knowing her plan had failed, Jules ran out of the house at full speed; loyalty to her last partner forgotten in the need to save her own skin. Damon was unfazed. It didn't matter that she had run away this time. He **would** own up to his promise. But it didn't hurt to take out some anger. Which is exactly what he did to the last werewolf remaining.

After a quick heart grab and body throw, Damon turned his attention to his little brother. "Stefan!"

The eldest Salvatore ran to where Stefan had fallen and turned him gently on his back. The smell of the blood was overwhelming and instead of the usual desire that sprang up, all Stefan's did made him want to throw up. Stefan had fallen into a semi-conscious state, blinking hazily up at Damon.

"Hey, Stef. It's ok, it's ok." Damon said this softly to his younger brother; all traces of his usual hardness gone. Damon tried to be as gentle as he could while examining the wound – trying to fight down his fear. _Maybe when he pulled the stake out, Stefan would heal?_ Damon thought frantically.

_Alright. I can do this._ Damon took a deep breath and put his hands on the stake, getting ready to pull. "Ok, Stefan. I'm going to take it out. It's going to be alright." Gripping it tightly, Damon gave a quick tug, deciding that pulling it out faster would be best. Stefan cried out in agony, which Damon couldn't help but flinch at. After the stake was out, his brother's eyes drooped and Stefan fell unconscious, head turning to the side.

"Stefan. No Stefan, stay awake!" Damon wasn't exactly a doctor, but it probably wasn't good that Stefan had fallen unconscious. Looking back at his wound, the vampire felt his panic rise when no healing had taken place.

"Damn it!" Damon cursed. Intellectually, he had known that Stefan's healing abilities were gone, but he still couldn't help but hope that they would have worked. Knowing he had to examine the wound more now and see how bad it truly was, Damon pulled off Stefan's shirt as gently as he could and tossed the bloodied plaid shirt off to the side. Right near his right shoulder and above his chest, blood pooled out of a small hole and onto the carpet.

Just as Stefan's breathing started to become ragged, Damon thought of an idea and bit down into his wrist, shoving it hard into his brother's mouth – he only hoped that giving blood would increase the rate of the healing, or else Stefan would have to go to the hospital.

After a few minutes, Damon noticed that the bleeding had stopped and the wound seemed to be closing. Damon leaned back in relief and grabbed his little brother's head up to his, smothering his face in his long hair and giving him small kisses.

"I'm sorry Stefan. This is my fault little brother. I'm the one who should be protecting you." Damon drew Stefan closer and hugged the boy fiercely, all his worry and exhaustion finally taking over.

Now that the adrenaline kick was over and Stefan was out of immediate danger, the older vampire found it hard to keep resisting the effects of the vervain. Forcing himself back onto his feet, Damon sped to get bandages, and some blood. He then ran upstairs, placed the blood on the table and returned to Stefan.

After securely bandaging his now healing wound, Damon gathered his little brother up into his arms and carried him up to his room, placing a shirt on him to make him feel more comfortable. Feeding him another batch of blood and placing him back down on the bed, Damon knew that he could not hold off the vervain any longer. Deciding he'd rather be comfy then fall to the floor and feeling a big brother instinct to protect his little brother from any more danger, Damon crawled onto the bed on the other side of Stefan and pulled him close so that Stefan's head rested in his lap.

The last thing Damon became aware of was his arms wound tightly around Stefan and one hand resting gently on top his head, lightly brushing his hair.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Once again, I'm really sorry about the longer update! I also feel like this chapter wasn't my best work but I've been under a lot of stress lately, so that might be contributing to it. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it and please review! =)<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Long time no see, ;) So, there is no excuse really for me not getting this up faster and I feel really bad about it. I actually wanted to get this out before the premiere last week, but it wasn't ready so :( Speaking of season 3, what do you guys think? I'm absolutely loving Stefan this season (especially last episode), and would really love to hear what you guys thought about it! Also, if you guys go on Tumblr, my url is listed in my profile. I'd love to talk with you! :)**

**Well anyways, anonymous reviews are below. Enjoy :)**

**cherry657: **Thank you! :)

**booyah: **Thank you! That makes me feel a little better, but I still wish I could update sooner!

**More: **Here you go :)

**Huh: **Aw, thank you!

**86: **Thank you :D

**krazykittykartwheel: **Thank you! I'm glad you like it! And here's more :)

**iGG: **Oh my god, what can I say to this wonderful review? Really, your reviews make me feel so good. I'm so glad that you seem to really enjoy this story, because I honestly never expected this much response. Really appreciate all that you had to comment on and compliment and I'm honestly touched that you wrote such a long review :DD So sweet, thank you! Oh, and thank you for understanding about how often I update.

**Hell: **Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! And protective Damon is awesome!

**v-babe: **Glad you thought it was cute lol! Yes, Stefan is cute, isn't he :) I'm glad you really like the story!

**MaraJade: **Thank you! And here's an update :)

* * *

><p>Damon awoke with a start to find that he was gripping something very tightly and securely. Looking down, he found that he was holding his younger brother closely to him and the memories came rushing back.<p>

Shifting Stefan so that he could look more closely at his stab wound, he undid the bandages he had placed on before and saw that the wound was still there but much smaller. The older brother could also hear that Stefan's breathing seemed a little strained. With all the cups in the room empty of blood, Damon allowed his fangs to come out and bit down on his wrist again.

He found that he actually didn't mind feeding his brother. It was convenient and allowed Damon to give him the blood right then and there, rather than having him waste all the animal blood downstairs. Plus, a cocky side of Damon said that his blood was "superior" and would get the healing job done much quicker.

"Ow!" Damon said playfully, pulled out of his thoughts as Stefan unconsciously bit him while sucking the blood. "Easy there, Stefan." Damon chided.

Damon then extracted his wrist from his little brother's mouth and found himself smiling a little when Stefan seemed to pout in his sleep at not having the steady flow of blood anymore. Damon turned his head to the side with a slight shake. "Don't pout. I'll go get you some more; like the slave I am, right little brother?" The elder vampire joked in an effort to get some sort of reaction out of his younger brother.

Stefan, however, remained unresponsive and Damon creased his brow in worry. Placing his hand one more time on his brother's head, Damon ran at inhuman speed to fill up more cups of blood. He also realized he was getting _very_ low on animal blood. He would have to go out sometime and hunt but he also realized that he didn't want to leave Stefan alone..

Back in his brother's room, Stefan was still out cold on the bed. Bringing the first cup of warm blood close, he eased his brother's head back up and watched him silently drink. When the cup was about halfway empty, Stefan started to fuss; as though he was done with the blood. Damon frowned. "Are you sure, Stef? You seemed very eager about it before."

Almost as if he had heard what Damon just said, Stefan shook his head and moaned. "Nooo. I .. don't..want ..to be.. a.. monster. Ohh."

Damon leaned back in surprise and placed the cup on the nearest table. Sitting closer on the bed, Damon watched as Stefan kept fidgeting and mumbling. _What was Stefan talking about?_

"Noo. I'm a monster. Oh, what have I done? Damon…Damon, I'm sorry. No!" Stefan cried out.

"Stefan!" Damon gripped his brother's shoulders in an attempt to wake him and Stefan flew up, panting hard.

"Stefan, relax." Damon spoke soothingly to calm his very nervous little brother. This was weird. One moment Stefan was completely normal and sleeping calmly. The next, he was mumbling and acting all crazed. He looked like a mess as well; head slightly sweaty, hair disheveled and all over the place.

Stefan started to breathe a little more evenly and noticed Damon sitting beside him. "Damon."

"Hey." Damon gave him a slight comforting smile. "What happened? "

Stefan shook his head again and raised his hand to his messy hair. "I-I saw things. Things I know that I did. It was awful." Stefan looked up at him with tear filled eyes.

Seeing his brother almost crying again broke Damon's heart; though he'd never admit it. "Whoa. Stef, calm down. You probably just had a nightmare." Damon gave him a smirk. "You remember those don't you? You used to get them _all_ the time." An image came instantly to Damon's head of a four year old Stefan coming into his room and climbing into his bed with him, slightly crying from the latest nightmare, and knowing the only place he would ever be able to find sleep again was in his big brother's arms.

_Wow. That was so long ago._ Damon hadn't thought about times like those in decades. This Stefan certainly had an effect on him.

"It wasn't like that. I know they were ..memories that I forgot happened. Things that I had done. So much pain." Stefan eyes clouded again and he dropped his head down.

Damon was at a slight loss. Was Stefan really seeing past events now in his dreams? "Stefan.."

His brother brought his head back at just Damon's voice. Green eyes filled with despair looked back at normally icy blue eyes that now held softness. "I'm sorry brother. I did terrible things. I'm a monster. I..I..hurt you. And I…_killed_ Father." Stefan started to softly sob, horribly ashamed and disgusted with himself.

Damon had never heard Stefan talk this way. Yes, he had heard Stefan refer to himself as a monster when it concerned how he acted on human blood, but never so _broken_ and to everything he did in general. Damon put an arm gingerly on Stefan's shoulder. "Stefan, it's alright. Please don't cry." The elder Salvatore was torn. A part of him that still had unresolved issues with Stefan for years wanted to say yes, it was all your fault. Another part just saw his little brother crying. Either way, he wasn't as affectionate as he could be and perhaps Stefan noticed this.

Stefan jerked away from him. "No, it's not alright! You hate me, don't you?" Stefan said this quietly. Damon gave no response.

"You see! I know, now. I saw. I saw how I ruined your life, how I hurt you. All the terrible things I did. And how you hate me with everything you have, and want nothing more than to give me an eternity of misery!" Stefan shouted this at him.

Damon winced at this but gave his younger brother a steady and somewhat cold look. "This conversation is best suited for when the Stefan from before comes back. It doesn't concern you, _little_ brother." Damon spat out the name mockingly.

Stefan looked back at him angrily. "You don't get it! I am _that_ Stefan!" Damon raised his eyebrows at this. Stefan merely continued in a huff. "How else would I have seen those memories if I wasn't that Stefan! Although the spell may have changed me and messed up my memories, I'm still him! He's still inside of me, a part of me. And what I say is no different from what he feels."

Damon was once again startled. Even though he knew that the Stefan in front of him was still **Stefan**, he had just always felt that the Stefan who had lived everything from before was gone until the spell was reversed. To think that Stefan had actually been here the whole time, subconsciously, inside 1864 Stefan, well, he really didn't know what to think. It was going to take awhile to wrap his mind around the whole thing. _This spell is __**such**__ a pain in the ass._

While Damon was still reeling over what his brother had just angrily announced, said brother was attempting to get off the bed.

Finally noticing his younger brother's actions, Damon made a grab for him and firmly pushed him back on the bed. "_Please_ **sit** and behave." Damon's voice held obvious authority and any trace of light-heartedness was gone. Surprisingly, Stefan obeyed and lay back down on the bed, turning away from Damon to stare silently at the wall.

Damon blew out some air. _With all this brooding, how could I question that the other Stefan had been gone?_

"Stefan-" Damon started.

"Please leave me alone." Stefan mumbled this into his pillow but knew with everyone in the room having enhanced hearing this was hardly a problem.

Damon sped over to where his brother had turned away from him on the bed, slightly startling him. Stefan cringed away, "I hate when you do that."

"Tough." Damon placed his hands under Stefan's legs and moved them over, not asking for permission to do so. Once again, Stefan barely acknowledged this and just continued to stare sadly.

"Stefan, are we really going to do this?" Damon asked.

"Do what?" Came a quiet response.

Damon rolled his eyes. Why must his brother be so difficult? "Look, so we have some issues. Don't pout about it." Damon said harshly, expecting a reaction from Stefan. None came. "What did you expect? A happy fairytale ending after we became vampires? " The older vampire fell back into his old habits of lashing out at Stefan in cold indifference.

His younger brother said nothing and Damon became annoyed. "I'll come back to check on your healing and give you more blood." And like a flash Damon was gone. In the silence of his brother's absence, a single tear fell down the younger Salvatore's cheek.

* * *

><p>A week had passed and not much had changed between the brothers since Stefan had first experienced his onslaught of memories. Damon usually spent the day downstairs, yelling at Bonnie to get her ass in gear and figure out a solution to the spell; that he had waited long enough and if she couldn't come up with results in a matter of days, someone would pay.<p>

Bonnie took this to mean that someone would die and simply assumed that Damon was running his mouth with his usual empty threats. She had gotten an earful from Damon after hearing about Jules' attack and Stefan's brief scare. Bonnie had been quite taken aback by the whole incident – she had never heard Damon so upset.

This was partly why she wasn't telling Damon to go to hell at the moment while he was screaming obscenities at her. She obviously didn't appreciate his constant yelling and death threats, but this spell was her fault and she would own up to what she had done and not stop until she had found a solution. Not to mention all that had happened to Stefan, just because he was Stefan and only wanted to help ease everyone's worries about Klaus, Elena's worries about her, and Bonnie's own over enthusiasm for spells as an extension of her own worry for Elena.

All of this and look at where it had gotten him. After hearing about the attack and Stefan getting hurt, Bonnie's guilt had threatened to consume her but she fought it down with more determination. All of Damon's yells came from his worry for his brother and now with Jules in the picture Bonnie had to stop at nothing to fix the problem she had created.

* * *

><p>Stefan on the other hand, spent most of his days holed up in his "room". He found he suddenly had a lack of energy or will or <em>something.<em> He couldn't place it, but perhaps it was more that he didn't _want_ to. Maybe because he knew all along what was missing, what was causing this horrible heartache, what gave him nightmares at night that every time he would pray that he wouldn't wake up screaming; for he knew that he could no longer cry for comfort that had so easily come to him.

Speaking of nightmares, they were getting worse. Every time it seemed he closed his eyes, Stefan saw his past. Saw _The Ripper's_ past. He hated the ripper. He hated himself. At first, he had just wanted to believe that maybe Damon had been right, that they were just dreams, nothing more.

He knew he was right though. He knew this was part of the spell because he felt a semblance of recognition when he dreamed these terrible images. Because it was all real and had lived before, within himself. And because of the emotions it stirred inside him. The emotions tied to him becoming a ripper – a link to the ache he was feeling now. The loss of Damon. Of everything.

After all, hadn't he only wanted to be a vampire if Damon was one as well? He had never wanted to become a vampire; Stefan remembered one memory with him and Katherine and of her showing her vampirism and him turning away in fear. He had only become one because his urges had been too hard to deny with the blood _everywhere. _And by the time he knew what he was doing, it was too late. So, he had raced back, knowing that he couldn't live this new life without Damon. That before he been okay with dying, because it meant he was following Damon into death. That he needed his brother, and he just couldn't care about if Damon really wanted that too.

Stefan sobbed silently to himself. Damon had every right to hate him. For everything he was. All Damon had ever done was take care of his little brother. Think of Stefan before himself. And what had Stefan done? Stefan had been selfish in the one time that Damon had wanted something for himself and Stefan had taken that away from him because that's what **he** wanted.

So after Damon had rightfully rejected him, he hadn't been able to deal with it and became even more selfish by becoming a devilish character to hide his pain, his guilt. Took it out on numerous innocent lives and gave into the bloodlust so nothing but the blood and the hunt existed. If Damon hadn't hated Stefan for who he was before, Stefan couldn't see how he couldn't hate him for what he had become.

* * *

><p>Elena knocked on the door, harder this time. She had been waiting for about a minute after the first knock and there had been no response - an unusual occurrence for a house of vampires.<p>

Something was up with the Salvatore's and Elena was very worried. Damon had told her what had happened to Stefan last week and she had been desperate to see him for some time now. But every time Damon told her he was not allowing anyone to see him and that he was resting and to visit later.

Well, it was later and Elena was impatient. She longed to be in Stefan's arms, see if he was okay and to hold him and just be with him. She would get in this house if she had to break it down as far as she was concerned.

"Damon! It's Elena! Let me in! I'm not leaving until you do!" Elena was about to knock again and when the door suddenly swung open and Damon appeared on the other end.

"_Please,_ stop that. It's so _very_ annoying with vampire hearing."

Elena walked past him. "Well sorry, but maybe if you had answered my calls saying I was coming or bothered to open the door the first time I knocked, maybe I wouldn't have to make your ears bleed."

Damon rolled his eyes at that. "Oh please. My ears are so not bleeding. Especially not at the expense of some human knocking."

"Let's skip past the witty banter. You know why I'm here, so I'll just be upstairs then, alright?" Elena was already turning towards the stairs.

"Uh-huh. Not so fast." Damon grabbed her arm. "I don't think that's a great idea.."

Elena frowned. "Why Damon? It's been a week. Please. I need to see him." Elena stared at him and Damon had to look away from the pleading in her eyes.

Damon sighed. "Look, we had an argument and he's been very upset. He never comes out of his room, he won't look at me and when I look at him he looks so far gone I don't know what to do or say!" Damon bowed his head. After a weeks worth of his brother's immense sadness, Damon wasn't sure what to do anymore. He longed for the time he and Stefan had easily played football outside and even eaten that goofy breakfast. He thought he was getting his little brother back again. But of course, it seemed he had managed to screw that up again.

Elena noticed how torn up Damon seemed. "How did you two get in an argument? It seemed like he was worshipping you the last time I saw the two of you together?"

"It seems like he's been remembering things from before..and he got pretty upset over it." Damon sighed again.

"Damon let me help. I can talk to him." Elena was determined to get through to Stefan.

"Alright." Damon consented and she immediately rushed up the stairs.

Outside of Stefan's closed door, Elena wondered if she should knock. She supposed since this Stefan wasn't familiar with her, it would be rude to just walk in unannounced.

"Stefan?" She knocked twice. "It's Elena. Can I come in?"

No response. _Hmmmmm, well I did try._

Elena swung the door open, happy that these doors didn't have locks on them. Stefan was lying on his bed, seemingly in a deep sleep. Elena walked quietly up to his prone figure and whispered softly to him. "Stefan. Hey, Stefan." She laid her hand on his shoulder and moved it up in an affectionate manner.

When Stefan still continued sleeping peacefully, Elena smiled a little at him. She couldn't help it. All her determination seemed to melt away as soon as she saw him. Propping herself up on the bed, Elena situated herself so that Stefan lay resting in her lap. Her fingers sought out his long silky locks and she began gently playing with them.

Elena brought her lips down his head, giving him a soft kiss. "I love you Stefan. I missed you."

* * *

><p>Elena continued to hold Stefan until she could feel him starting to wake. She herself had almost drifted off into sleep several times as she lay on the bed.<p>

"Stefan?" Elena asked softly.

Stefan stirred and blinked. Looking around, he took notice that someone was holding him and it wasn't Damon. Glancing up at Elena, he was a little startled.

"Shh, it's ok Stefan. It's Elena." Elena now felt a little bad. She kept forgetting that Stefan would be confused by her obvious affection, not to mention being in the bed with him.

"Oh, um. Not to be rude, but what are you doing in here?" Stefan moved out of her arms.

"I'm sorry. The thing is, you and I are dating, and I missed you so much I just wanted to see you." Elena said earnestly.

Stefan looked a little surprised again and scratched his head. "Oh. Well, then I'm very sorry then Miss Elena."

Elena blushed and let out a little laugh at Stefan's out of date mannerisms. "Stefan, please just call me Elena. It's the 21st century." She joked lightly.

Stefan smiled back at her and blushed too. "Sorry. Elena then." He smiled again.

Elena scooted closer to where he was on the bed and ignored how he unconsciously seemed to back away slightly. "I'm glad you're ok. I was really worried about you." Elena said.

Stefan looked back at her. "I'm alright. Thank you." He looked back down.

"Damon told me that you've been feeling a little down?" Stefan flinched again.

"I'm fine." His response was quiet.

Elena thought for a moment. "Hey. You know what? We should get out of here and have some fun!" Elena said. She wanted to get Stefan out of the house and possibly get him to open up to her.

He looked up at her in surprise. "I don't know.. Besides, Damon will never let me go out."

Damn. She had forgotten about Damon. "Well, then we'll sneak out."

Stefan raised his eyebrows at this. "Elena, how are we going to do that?"

Elena just smiled at him in a way that reminded him very much of Katherine.

* * *

><p>More knocks at the front door. "Ugh, what now!" Damon shouted annoyed. He swung the door open and found none other than vampire Barbie at his doorstep.<p>

"Well, well, well. What can I help you with Blondie?"

Caroline skipped past him and walked right in. Damon rolled his eyes and shut the door. "Seriously, what do you want?"

"Don't get so snippy," At Damon's look, Caroline added, "please." "I'm running out of blood bags and I was wondering if I could maybe borrow some of yours?"

Damon looked annoyed again. "Can't you just go and get your own, jeez. I'm not your blood dealer." He smirked to himself.

Caroline just shook her head. "Please, Damon? I'm still new to this and Stefan always let me borrow bags from him. I'm still not sure about my compelling abilities if I run into someone."

Damon sighed. "Ugh, find. Come on." He raised his hand and gestured her to follow him to the basement. As they were walking, Caroline dug into her pocket and sent a text to Elena signaling the coast was clear.

Back up in Stefan's room, Elena received the text she was waiting for. "Ok, it's time to move."

Stefan still looked unsure and was about to hesitate.

"It's ok Stefan." Elena assured him.

He nodded and followed her down the stairs. Elena looked back and forth to see if Damon was anywhere in sight. She then turned to Stefan and grabbed at her ear – signaling for Stefan to see if he could hear them.

Stefan strained his ears a little and found that he could hear Damon and Caroline talking, but they were definitely still downstairs. He nodded back at Elena to say everything was fine. She smiled back and soon they were both out the door, making their way to Elena's car.

"Whoa-what's?" Stefan pointed at Elena's car.

"Oh, it's this century's type of transportation. An extremely updated carriage, if you will. It's called a car." Elena said as they got in. Elena then showed him the seat belt and she started the engine.

"Alright. Time for some fun."


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Omg I'm so, so sorry I took so long! I'm really upset about this! This chapter is dedicated to Aryana (sexy-wesley on tumblr), whose persistence allowed my inspiration to flow and get this chapter done! Also, happy birthday! :) Oh, and btw, there's this one scene in which you may be like, "that doesn't happen in real life LOL." Just know that I needed something to happen to have **_**that**_** happen; so don't judge me too harshly lol.**

**Hell – **I'm glad you liked Elena in that chapter. Yes, Damon is bound to be upset. Thanks for the review :)

**MaraJade – **Thank you :) Sorry about the wait! Here's a new chapter for you! Thanks for the review :)

**Closebrighteyes – **Thank you :) I'm glad you like Damon. And is this Cassidy, lol? Thanks for the review :)

**Jj – **Thank you so much! I'm glad you are enjoying it! Yeah, he's going to be pretty upset! Thanks for the review :)

* * *

><p>"Alright. You got your blood. Now kindly get out." Damon said as he shoved Caroline out the door; his annoyance pushed to the max. The girl had continued to babble and babble and<em> babble<em> the entirety of her visit; which consisted of less than five minutes. _Dear god, that girl is __**annoying**__._

Closing the door then, practically in her face, Damon made his way back to the kitchen to make some blood for himself. After getting the mug heated and taking it out of the microwave, Damon situated himself on the couch and sighed.

His thoughts drifted back to his younger brother. He hoped that Elena would be able to talk with him and get him to open up some. Damon knew that he should really be trying harder, but he just didn't know how. After so many years of avoiding resolving things with Stefan, "hating" him had been so much easier.

Damon also worried about how Stefan's nightmares had been affecting. Although his younger brother no longer told him about them or that he was even still having them, that didn't mean Damon didn't know. Every night the older brother heard Stefan's scared whimpers and sometimes his soft involuntarily cries.

It honestly killed Damon inside to not rush into Stefan's room and immediately comfort him. But he would sometimes stand at the edge of the room and try to send soothing thoughts to the boy. Occasionally placing his hand atop Stefan's head to give him some comfort. Damon sighed again. It wasn't fair that this Stefan had to deal with all these memories now. Why was the spell doing this? He really needed to start threatening Bonnie again to get better results.

* * *

><p>The pair had been driving for a little more than 15 minutes now and were making their way out of Mystic Falls.<p>

"Elena," Stefan said slowly, staring at the Mystic Falls sign as the car sped by. "Where are we going?"

Elena glanced back at him, giving him a small smile. "Somewhere a little out of Mystic Falls. I don't want anyone to recognize you."

"Oh, right." Stefan said, looking back out the window.

The farther the two got, the more nervous the youngest Salvatore became. He didn't know why, but he just knew this was a bad idea. He felt this need to run immediately back to Damon and tell him that he was sorry for disobeying him. His cheeks reddening at this sudden thought, Stefan shook his head. Why was he acting like such a baby? He had every right to go wherever he wanted. Damon wasn't his parent.

The two of them soon came upon a little building that had a cabin-like appearance. Elena turned to him brightly, "We're here!"

Stefan looked back at it confused. "What is it?"

"Oh, sorry! It's a bar. It has some good food there and it'll be quiet and dark enough that nobody should recognize us if they're from Mystic Falls. We are only about 20 minutes out, so it is possible that someone that knows us could be there. But we really should be fine." Elena nodded again as though to reassure the both of them and quickly got out of the car.

Stefan still looked confused back at her retreating form, and turned back to his door. He fumbled with the knob and slowly opened the door from his side. Elena appeared right away as he did this, probably coming to help him.

"I'm okay, thank you." Stefan said politely, with a small smile.

Elena smiled back affectionately. "Alright, shall we?" Without waiting for his reply, Elena looped her arm around his and guided him to the entrance.

After getting a booth in the back and ordering some waters, Elena proceeded with talking to him.

"Stefan, we should really talk about what's been upsetting you." Elena said gently.

Stefan looked back surprised and a bit embarrassed. "How do you know I'm upset?"

"Well, Damon told me what happened." Elena said.

Stefan looked a little upset at this but just stared down at the table. "I don't want to talk about it."

Elena reached across the table and took the vampire's hand. At first he was a little startled and felt the need to back away.

"Hey. It's okay," Elena tried to keep him relaxed. "Look Stefan. I know how much you both love each other, so you can trust me. I know that all you really want is to repair things with Damon." Elena said sadly.

Stefan glanced back at her and found himself reassured by her words. "It's just..Damon hates me. And he has every right to. I guess I can't stand it but at the same time I'm mad at him. But mostly me." Stefan looked down at his hands.

"Oh, Stefan," Elena got up from her opposite side of the booth and went to Stefan's. She wrapped him in a hug and brought a hand to his head, gently pulling it to rest on her shoulder.

Stefan, hesitant, but trusting Elena, allowed the comfort of her closeness. After days of countless "nightmares" all he was starved for comfort.

He could feel the tears prickle in his eyes as he started to babble to the teenage girl. "It's all my fault. I'm the reason for everything Damon has done. And I'm the reason why Damon's anger made him do those things. I truly hate myself. I'm a merciless ripper. A monster."

Elena was confused as to what a "ripper" was, but felt her own eyes tear up at Stefan's words. "Shhh, Stefan. No, you're not to blame. Damon accepts responsibility for his own actions and he absolutely does **not** hate you. He just doesn't understand his own emotions and struggles with the past." Elena ran a hand through Stefan's silky locks.

The young vampire pulled a little away and looked back up at her. "I don't know if I'll believe you unless Damon says it. I just want my big brother back." Stefan said quietly.

Elena felt so unbelievably sad for her boyfriend. It hurt her so much to see him like this. She knew that the present Stefan felt exactly the way this Stefan did about Damon, it was just this Stefan was more willing to open himself up to those issues. Underneath it all, she saw her Stefan hurting and pulled him back in for another hug.

"I know baby, I know." She kissed the top of his head and held him close. Stefan wrapped his arms around Elena and closed his eyes a little. He could definitely see how his present self had fallen in love with Elena. She was beautiful, kind and warm. Her presence was very soothing to him.

"We should probably head back then, huh? Have a little chat?" Elena asked. Stefan nodded a little reluctantly, as though scared of what would happen when he faced Damon.

The couple made their way then out of the bar and started the drive back to Mystic Falls.

* * *

><p>Damon was currently having a wonderful little argument with himself at the moment.<p>

A part of him kept saying, "Go have a talk with your brother, jackass!" and the other said, "Just get drunk and try to forget." This time though, Damon surprisingly took the first "suggestion". He was going to talk to his little brother and try and repair things.

Damon sped up to Stefan's room and knocked on the closed door. "Hey, Stefan. Can I come in?" When no reply came, Damon frowned. _Wait; is Elena still in there?_

It had been awhile since Elena had come to the boarding house and had disappeared upstairs. In fact, the more that he thought about it, he hadn't really been able to hear the slight murmur of their voices in the background since blondie had come over..

Damon threw the door open; none too slightly, the door almost falling off its hinges in his suspicions. His eyes immediately took in the empty room and he felt his fangs trying to break free.

_Where was his brother?_

Damon wasted no time, and immediately ran out of the house and into his car. He sped right over to Caroline's house and barged right in. "Caroline! Get your ass down here! Trust me, you don't want me to find you." Damon threatened. There was a blur of blond hair and Caroline was in front of him looking extremely nervous. _Good, she should be._

"You better start explaining what's going on." Damon spat. "Where's my brother and Elena!"

* * *

><p>Elena and Stefan had been driving for a couple minutes, quickly coming to a turn, when Stefan felt his first wave of hunger pain. He clutched his stomach and moaned softly.<p>

"Stefan?" Elena asked. "What's wrong?" she looked back worriedly at him.

The young vampire shook his head. "It's nothing. Just a little hunger pain."

Elena was about to respond when the car ran over a large piece of glass left over from some construction work on the road, which Elena had not noticed in her concern. The front tire suddenly popped and the car began to spin dangerously as Elena had been trying to turn.

"Ah! No, stop!" Elena screamed and pushed her foot down hard on the break in an attempt to make the car slow down. It was useless though, and the car slammed into a tree on the side of the rode, tilting the car slightly backwards into the forest.

As the car had been moving towards the tree, Stefan grabbed a hold of Elena, knowing there was no way to stop the impact, and gripped her tightly to him. He felt a slight bang as his car door hit the side of the tree and his head smashed painfully on the window. He faintly acknowledged warm blood oozing into his hair and down his face.

Elena groaned. "Ugh, Stefan, oh my god, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" She pulled herself out of his arms and took in for the first time his injuries. "Oh my god! Stefan!" The sight of him bleeding so much shocked Elena and made her incredibly scared. Stefan was also so indestructible to her. He looked so vulnerable right now.

Stefan slowly moved from his lopsided position on the window and glanced back at Elena slowly. "I-I'm okay. Are you okay?" Elena's head felt dizzy but for the most part she would be okay.

"Yeah, I –I'm fine." Elena said breathlessly.

"We need to get out." Stefan stated. Elena swallowed and nodded in agreement.

The couple slowly exited the damaged car from Elena's side, Stefan almost tumbling out. They made their way over to a spot on the grass near another tree and sat down, reeling from what just happened.

"Stefan, let me see your head." The boy turned his head and Elena cringed as she inspected the wound. It looked pretty bad; Stefan's eyes were glassy and unfocused. He was still clutching his stomach.

"I'm gonna call Damon, okay." Elena started to pull out her phone, her hands shaking. Stefan grabbed her hand however, stopping her, looking alarmed.

"No. Damon will be..he'll..he'll be mad at me." Stefan slurred, pouting.

"Stefan, it'll be ok. He'll be more mad if we don't get help, ok?" Elena reasoned. Stefan shook his head slowly and laid down more on the grass sighing.

"Don't fall asleep Stefan!" The girl said anxiously to the exhausted teen. Elena then fumbled to look up Damon's number – luckily she hadn't erased it this week – and waited impatiently for him to pick up.

* * *

><p>"And that's why I did it!" Caroline finished in a huff. She had just been speed talking for the last five minutes to Damon, trying to explain why Elena and Stefan were gone.<p>

Damon was just about to respond when he felt his phone buzzing in his pant's pocket. He contemplated not answering it just so he could properly yell at Caroline more, but reasoned that this might be important regarding Stefan and Elena.

"Yeah?" The eldest Salvatore greeted the other line.

"Damon! Thank god." It was Elena. And her tone of voice made Damon's stomach drop.

"Elena! What's going on? What's wrong!" Damon shouted angrily. Caroline's eyes widened and she listened in on the conversation.

"We- we had an accident. My car ran off the road, and .. ugh.." Elena's voice trailed off, indicating sleep was not far away.

Damon began pacing, alarmed. "Elena! Focus! Stay awake damn it! Where's Stefan? Is he okay? Where are you?"

"Uhh, Stefan's hurt Damon. You need to come and help. We're-we're outside Mystic Falls…" Elena's voice became farther away.

_Stefan's hurt. Stefan's hurt. Stefanshurtstefanshurt. _These were the only words echoing inside Damon's head. He felt his undead heart pick up speed dramatically; his hands begin to sweat and his fear spiked. This was all his fault. Because he was an emotionless dick, his defenseless baby brother was hurt.

"I'll be there in less than two minutes – just hold on okay." Damon hung up and was on his way to speed right over there, when Caroline suddenly grabbed him. It wouldn't have even stopped him, nothing could right now, but she spoke out.

"The car!" Caroline shouted.

"Caroline, I don't have time for this!" Damon said frustrated.

The blond raised her eyebrows. "We need it to bring Elena back. I'll drive. I'll be able to track you okay. Just go." Damon nodded, gave her his keys and was off in a second.

Caroline looked out the door at the ongoing blur for a moment, until she herself rushed to Damon's car and was off.

* * *

><p>Elena realized vaguely that Damon was no longer on the line, and shakily dropped down to where Stefan had fallen to earlier. She looked over and noticed that his eyes were closed.<p>

"No, Stefan. No, you … have… to stay.. awake." The girl shook him but stopped a second later, worrying that that would make it worse somehow. For some reason, she felt like crying. Although neither was seriously hurt, she felt so tired and dizzy. And she was mad that she couldn't help Stefan more; mad that she had even crashed in the first place. If she had never even dragged Stefan out, this would have never happened.

"I'm sorry, baby. Hey, I'm sorry baby." Elena pulled Stefan gently to her and rested a hand softly on his bleeding forehead, trying to somehow staunch the blood flow. "You'll be okay. You'll be okay."

Damon had been running at full speed, trying to catch his little brother's scent. Right after he got past Mystic Falls, a strong smell of blood filled his nostrils and he recoiled back. It was Stefan's. Heading in the direction of the blood, the vampire soon saw Elena's car crashed on the side of the road. The car looked to not have too much damage, so Damon prayed that assessment held true for Stefan's health as well.

Damon quickly saw the two teens lying down by a nearby tree. Elena had a couple scratches and her eyes were drooping. His eyes sought out Stefan and his heart stopped at the dry blood soaked into his long light brown hair, some of it on the side of his face, as he lay unconscious. The older vampire crouched next to the couple and he gently shook Elena. "Hey, I'm here."

Elena's eyes fluttered and she took in Damon. "Damon," She smiled looking relieved. Her eyes pointed down to the bundle in her lap and Damon nodded. Elena shakily got up, Damon steadying her and rested against the tree trunk as she watched Damon take care of Stefan.

"Stefan, hey buddy. I'm here," Damon smoothed back his little brother's hair and grimaced as he saw the head wound, his hands coming back bloody. Stefan groaned a little and wrapped his arms tightly around his slim middle. Damon's brows furrowed at the movement.

"I ..think he needs .. some blood. He was ..having hunger pains..before we ..crashed," Elena said.

Damon looked back at his younger brother in concern and nodded, fangs already coming out. He bit down hard and brought his wrist up to Stefan's mouth. Stefan, however, did not proceed to suck in – the blood dribbled down his mouth and onto his shirt.

"What the hell?" Damon tried to more firmly press the blood into Stefan's mouth. "Drink, Stefan. You need it, _piccolo_, drink."

"What's wrong?" Elena asked.

Damon glanced back confused. "I don't know. He's not willingly taking the blood. Usually he latches on right after I do it. Any vampire should.." Damon tilted Stefan's head back to allow the blood to flow down his brother's throat.

Unfortunately, Stefan started to choke a little and began to emit small desperate coughs.

"Damon!" Elena shouted, scared.

Backtracking his steps, Damon moved Stefan back up and began patting him on the back to get him to stop choking on the blood. "Stefan, little brother, please. Stop struggling, please, it'll be okay," Damon said desperate. What was happening to Stefan? Why was his little brother always put through so much?

Thankfully, Stefan stopped coughing, and Damon was relieved to find that some of his blood seemed to have gone through. Damon inspected Stefan's head wound again and was pleased to find it had shrunk a little. He then placed his hands under Stefan's legs and picked up into his arms. Just as he did this, Caroline honked from behind, signaling her arrival. She got out of the car in a rush and ran over to the little group.

"Is everyone okay?" Caroline asked, looking closely at Stefan resting in Damon's arms.

"Caroline, take Elena back home please, and then drop my car off at the boarding house." Damon said to Caroline and started to walk past the group.

"Damon!" Elena said. "I'm sorry about everything." She looked ashamed.

Damon merely looked at her and then was gone.

* * *

><p>The older vampire kept at a steady pace as he ran back to the house, knowing he had precious cargo in his arms. He entered the house and placed Stefan on the nearest couch as he went to grab some medical supplies.<p>

Gently, Damon washed off the large amount of blood on his brother's pale face and found he was at least was happy that the wound had now stopped bleeding. Stefan groaned a little and his eyes began opening. Damon stopped what he was doing and watched as his brother looked back at him, a little shocked.

"Damon?" Stefan asked.

Damon smiled. "Hey _piccolo_."

"Ugh, what happened? How'd I get here?" Stefan asked. "My head hurts," his little brother then pouted.

Damon smiled again at his baby brother's face. "It's alright little brother. You're safe now. You had a little accident, but your big brother is going to take care of you, okay?" Stefan looked back shocked with glassy eyes. Damon gathered Stefan up again in his arms, Stefan giving a small whimper of protest but too weak to resist, and carried him to the bathroom upstairs. He settled Stefan to lie on the floor, his back resting on the tub, as he started the bath water.

"What … are you..doing?" Stefan asked, sounding nervous.

"Relax. I'm just going to wash your hair." Damon said as he tested the temperature of the water.

The youngest Salvatore scrunched his eyes confused. "What? Why?"

"Because. Your hair is full of your..blood. And it's making me nauseous." Damon admitted. Stefan raised a hand up to his hair and felt the strands that were stiff with dry blood, perhaps noticing for the first time.

Damon came over and tilted his head back until it was touching the warm water. As his older brother gently washed out his mop of hair, he stared up at the ceiling and walls, mesmerized by the random patterns, obviously still out of it. The rhythmic touch of Damon's hand in his hair made him relax even further and he felt the need to fall asleep so badly. But Damon had splashed him several times, instructing him sternly not to do just that.

Soon enough, Damon had grabbed a towel and was gently running it through Stefan's hair. "Ok, all done. You can stop pouting now, hm?" Damon teased lightly. Stefan moved his head a little and looked at Damon with a curious expression. _Why wasn't Damon mad at him?_

"Damon? Why did you do all this? You..hate..me." Stefan said quietly, hair falling into his sad green eyes.

The elder vampire immediately stood still. His greatest fears were finally true. He had pushed Stefan so much throughout all the years that his baby brother now believed he **hated** him. What had he done?

Damon sat down next to Stefan near the tub and looked directly at him. "Little brother, I think we need to have a talk."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: Once again, really, really, sorry I took so long!<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Ugh, so I'm so, so, so sorry for taking forever to update this story! I really have not forgotten about it or anything, I swear. I hope you will all forgive me!

Oh, and I feel like this chapter is really crappy and that's probably due to my lack of writing and such. Sigh.

**Kle - **thank you!

**iGG – **Lol, I can see where you'd think that. Thank you again :)

**Im not who u think i am – **Thank you! I'm so glad you like it! Lol, good luck ;) This season has been a little frustrating for me.

**MaraJade – **Ah, thank you so much!

**Luckycharms – **Aw, that's so sweet. Haha, thank you!

**Jess – **Lol, here's more ;)

**Stefanswifey10 – **Aww :) Yeah, this story and my other ones are kind of like what I wish the episodes would be like on the show. Thank you!

* * *

><p>Stefan looked back at Damon in slight surprise and nervousness. Was Damon going to punish him in some way because of the accident?<p>

"Talk about what?" Stefan asked in a shy, quiet voice.

Damon sighed at his little brother's timid voice. The boy was clearly nervous and afraid for the wrong reasons.

"Talk about what's been happening between us ever since you started having those memories." Damon said while Stefan looked away. In that moment Damon saw the pain Stefan held in his eyes when reminded of the memories, and Damon's guilt multiplied immensely. Stefan looked so young as his sad eyes turned downward and his bangs fell down his face. He should have been there for his baby brother.

Within those moments, the elder Salvatore felt the need to forget everything in the past and just hold onto his little brother. Hold onto everything he had thought was lost. Everything he even seemed to have forgotten he'd lost.

He steadied his emotions and took a deep breath. He wasn't sure if he was ready for that yet. Damon still had a long way to go until he could really deal with all that happened, but he knew for sure he was going to end this tension that had come between this version of his younger brother and himself.

"Little brother. I'm sorry for being so .. distant with you, and being cold. I know that you don't really understand things here and the way things are now between us, but I really don't want you to put that burden on yourself anymore, okay? I was wrong, and I should have been there for you when you were experiencing all those bad memories. I'm a work in progress, but I just want things to go back to how they were before you started getting them." Damon finished, not sure how his brother would react, but hoping he would let things go.

After a moment, the infamous mop of hair turned up and looked slowly at Damon, a small accepting smile on his young and innocent features. "It's okay, Damon. I was never really mad at you, I'm just mad at myself. I'm really the one to blame for everything."

Damon looked at him, slightly hurt at this. "Stefan. You don't really mean that, do you?"

Being the ever guilt-ridden little Stefan Damon knew, his baby brother shook his head almost immediately. "Yes, yes, of course I do! It truly is my entire fault Damon, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive myself. I'll honestly believe it's a miracle if you ever do." Stefan said to him, those kind green eyes shinning with honesty and complete openness.

The older vampire couldn't help but just shake his head. "I don't want you to feel that way Stefan. I just-" Damon couldn't seem to find the words. He knew they were somewhere, that in some place he wanted Stefan to understand that not only was this Stefan from 1864 not responsible, the Stefan from here and now really wasn't either.

He just wasn't sure if he was ready to express and admit that to himself and Stefan yet.

"At least let me know that _you_ know that I don't…hate you." Damon finished his sentence, expelling air. Feeling as though he was admitting this to himself as well.

Stefan sat for a moment in thought at this. He wanted so badly to believe what Damon was saying. That he could be the Damon he had loved so much back in 1864, and the brother that he knew he still loved with equal measure in this time. But he also couldn't forget the feelings that arose within him whenever he would shut his eyes and the memories would taunt him.

Not even distant memories, really. Memories that had happened merely months ago still resonated deep within Stefan's core; of Damon's lack of caring, seemingly trying to always bring misery to his life, and proclaiming that he hated him whenever the younger vampire believed that maybe their relationship was recovering.

Stefan realized, that he too, could not let things go. He just couldn't stop these horrible emotions of guilt and sorrow, and despair at what had become of his relationship with Damon go. But he also did not like the look his brother was currently giving him at the moment.

He looked so sad at just the thought that Stefan believed his hatred towards him. This honestly made the teen feel so confused. But in the end, he just gave Damon a reassuring smile – willing to even have fake affection and happiness from Damon if it meant not having sadness instead.

Stefan nodded back up at Damon, and this seemed to please him for the moment.

Damon sighed again at this and placed his hand on Stefan's now slightly dried hair. "You feel tired, buddy?"

The young vampire nodded his head against his brother's still resting hand and looked up at him sheepishly. "But we don't have to do that yet, do we?" Stefan asked. Feeling suddenly not so sleepy anymore.

Damon regarded his brother with curiosity. "What do you mean? If you're trying to get out of bed when already telling me you're tired, you really have lost it Stef." Damon shook his head at his brother's antics. "I believe I'm going to have to set a bedtime of 10:00pm for you, young man."

Stefan frowned at that. "No, I don't mean that exactly. But, I really don't agree with that Damon. I'm far too old for a bedtime." Stefan argued, although he kind of knew that this wasn't exactly true. The Damon from 1864 had also given him a blasted bedtime as well.

Before Damon could give Stefan the whole, 'I'm the older brother and what I say goes' speech, Stefan spoke up. "I meant that I'm kinda hungry." The young vampire looked up at his older brother again innocently.

Damon blinked, surprised. "Well, well." He said smirking down at Stefan. "I can't believe you're asking me for blood and that it's not the other way around; ending with me shoving it down your throat." He smugly.

His brother just blushed. "Race you downstairs?" Stefan gave him a mischievous and boyish smile and was gone in a blink of an eye with his vampire speed. Leaving Damon to gawk at where his younger brother had been previously, obviously not expecting such a playful response.

However, the older brother's shocked nerves took only moments to recover and soon he had rushed down the stairs as well, merely a few seconds behind his little brother.

* * *

><p>Racing into the kitchen, Damon found his younger brother sitting at the table expectantly, obviously waiting for the older sibling to dote on the youngest and give him what he wanted.<p>

_Psh, what a brat. _Damon thought, though he had a smile on his face. His smile somewhat faded as he came around the table to get to the fridge as he noticed his brother. Despite Stefan's earlier remarks, it seemed he obviously _was_ very tired.

"Stefan! You've just been through an accident and hurt. I don't want you rough-housing it and acting so foolishly." Damon scolded. He reached out for his brother's head, and inspected his bandaging, almost tempted to rip it off again and see how the wound was healing.

"Ugh, Damon!" Stefan batted his older brother's overbearing hands away from his head, frowning and crossing his arms across his chest. "Could you _please_ respect my personal space? You just checked my wound. It feels fine. I promise."

"Watch the attitude," The older vampire said sternly. "Obviously you're lying from your bipolar behavior and crankiness. Besides, you always like to downplay any type of wound whenever you're hurt."

Before Stefan could respond, Damon held up a hand again to him. "Uh-ah. You, little brother, are going to drink some nice bunny blood that I was oh so nice to get for you. And then, you'll be marching yourself upstairs."

Stefan just nodded at him and then waited patiently as the older Salvatore heated the blood up, once again wrapping his arms around his middle.

"Why do you keep doing that, _piccolo_?" His brother asked him just as the microwave beeped and signaled the cup of blood was heated.

The boy looked at him confused. "Doing what?"

Damon placed the mug down in front on Stefan. "Keep wrapping your arms around yourself like that."

"Oh. Um, I don't know. I think it's just hunger pains. I'm not really used to it yet, but I think that's what they are." His little brother just shrugged at him again and started drinking steadily from the cup.

As he drank, Damon watched him frowning. "Well, I don't like it. I think we're going to have to monitor your feedings again."

Finishing off his blood, Stefan looked back up at his brother, pouting a little. But at the same time, he was feeling touched at his older brother's concern. "Alright." Stefan agreed, not really feeling like arguing when he knew Damon would win, and then laid his head on the table, tired again.

He felt arms resting on his shoulders. "Ok, baby brother. Time to sleep then, huh?" Stefan just nodded again, feeling suddenly so sleepy and like his whole body was full of lead.

Strong arms were then suddenly grabbing his legs and arms, gently pulling him up from where he was sitting and the next thing he knew, he was resting under his covers and in his bed.

Damon decided to not bother with getting Stefan into more appropriate sleepwear, feeling it more important that his brother get rest instead. After he placed Stefan in his bed, he noticed his brother looking up at him sleepily.

Damon crouched down beside Stefan, and ran his head through the silky brown locks again. "Go to sleep, _piccolo_." The elder Salvatore smiled as his baby brother shut his eyes and leaned into his touch.

* * *

><p>"So, you really think you can help me?" Bonnie rubbed her eyes tiredly. Ever since the attack on the Salvatores, Bonnie had been working extra hard in her search in finding a witch who knew about reversing the spell.<p>

The current witch she was having a conversation with seemed a little dodgy. Bonnie had found her through her Gram's old friend, of a friend, of a friend. Luckily, the older woman had seemed kind enough to come over to Bonnie's and discuss what she knew. Making Bonnie a little more realized that she didn't have to venture out to an unknown witch's house.

The two women were sitting in the kitchen, just starting to discuss what they had to work with.

The women smiled at the young girl. "Yes, yes. I believe I know what needs to be done to reverse the magic you casted upon the vampire."

Bonnie stiffened, feeling a little uneasy. "Ok. What exactly were you thinking?" Bonnie knew she should be feeling extremely lucky. After all, she had started thinking she would never find another witch or any solution for that matter that would fix Stefan.

But still, she didn't want to go into this completely naive and trustworthy.

As if noticing this, the women smiled reassuringly at her. "Bonnie, right?" Bonnie nodded at her. "You'll have to excuse my earlier manners on the phone for not properly introducing myself. I know you found me through Shelia Bennett."

Once again, Bonnie stiffened. "How – how did you know?"

"I have my ways." The witch smiled a secret smile at the younger witch. "I just want you to feel somewhat comforted by the fact that I respected your grandmother and for that I'm willing to help you."

Bonnie nodded, still a little confused. "Ok, but can you at least tell me your name?"

The witch shook her head and waved her hand, as if to brush the matter away. "Names are not important right now. What is important is what I know. And you'll want to listen."

* * *

><p>Jules checked her watch again. Upon seeing the time on the face of the watch, she sighed and began pacing around her living room. Every once and a while straightening something, or looking at the door to change up the pattern she had created with checking her watch.<p>

After the utter failure of her attack on Damon Salvatore, she had left town to try and regroup more fellow werewolves to come and stand beside her when she made her next move.

Unfortunately, most of them were very uneasy about joining her, which if Jules were to be honest, she had expected. It still didn't ease her rage at Damon; if anything it just increased it. She would have her revenge on Damon, no matter what it took.

Finally, she heard a knock at the front door. Almost racing to open it, Jules opened the door to an older, grey haired woman who appeared to be in her sixties with lighter skin.

"Ah, finally you're here!" Jules hurried her in and shut the door behind her.

"Yes, yes. I'm here. You young people really need to sort your manners and calm down. I am only a few minutes late, and I think you'll forgive me considering the circumstances." The women admonished.

Jules held her hands up in defense. "You're right. Come sit down. Tell me what you know." She guided the woman to a couch.

"I learned quite a few many things." The witch smiled crookedly at Jules.

"So, you know exactly what I need to make my revenge succeed?" Jules asked hopefully.

"Ah, yes. I know _exactly_ what to do." The witch gave a small laugh.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Sorry again about the late update guys! Oh, and sorry that this chapter isn't too long :( I hope to get a new chapter of "A Little Mistake" up soon.


	11. Chapter 11 Part One

**Author's Note: **I was looking over the last chapter, and I realized that I said Stefan raced Damon downstairs with vampire speed. That was a mistake, lol. So, I fixed that from the last chapter but Stefan doesn't have vampire speed. He only has heightened senses and immortality – just as a reminder. Sorry about that!

Ok, so with this chapter, it's kind of like a "teaser/sneak peek". I originally wrote this a couple weeks ago, just sort of writing as I didn't have an exact direction for this particular chapter. But I've just felt really horrible about keeping you guys waiting for so long. Now that school is going to be done for me next week, I really hope to update more frequently.

Also, a lot has kind of happened since I last worked on this story.. for one I went to a TVD con last month and saw Paul :) So, that was super exciting!

On the downside, the finale of TVD really depressed me.. so I'm kinda in a mood right now.

Sorry for the ranting and I hope it's ok that I put this little snippet out.

**MaraJade - **Aww, you're so welcome! Thank you so much - so glad you were happy with it :))

**anonymous for now - **Omg! Wow, that is incredibly nice of you to say. I am touched, thank you very much :')

**Erin - **Wow, thank you, thank you! So glad you like it :D And yes, I love Protective Damon soo much! Your review made me really happy, so thank you again :)) And I'll try my best to always keep updating - no matter how long the updates are.

**Jessie - **Oh, no indeed! I'm sorry to say that you're going to have to wait a little longer to find out! Thank you for reviewing :)

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><p>All was calm in the Salvatore Boarding house. Which was somewhat of a relief due to the recent excitement that had occurred.<p>

A certain curious teenaged boy was running his hand in wonder over a multitude of objects in the luxurious and spacious living room. Stefan moved from an object Damon had described as a "TV" and grabbed the device his brother had also told him controlled the TV, the "remote".

_Hmmmmm_. _This is such an interesting invention. _Stefan thought, his fingers hovering over the buttons, wondering whether he should give in to his curiosity and test it out.

His older brother was currently upstairs washing up as it was only just the start of the day. He didn't know exactly that Stefan had already awoken and had been exploring the house. Because of everything that had happened, the boy hadn't exactly gotten to look at everything that had initially sparked his interests. Stefan suspected that Damon assumed he was still sleeping.

Furrowing his brow, the young Salvatore was just about to through caution to the wind and press a button, when a very familiar voice shocked him to almost dropping said object.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked, from his leaning position at the edge of the room. He was dressed in a casual, but obviously a very expensive black button-shirt with dark jeans. As he noted this, Stefan took in a closer inspection of his brother, noticing little differences that he hadn't really taken in before. His hair was as dark as ever, like Stefan always remembered it, but it had seemed to lost its trademark wavy style.

Stefan frowned slightly at this, thinking back on an old childhood memory of himself as a little boy and being fascinated by Damon's curls – tugging and pulling on them much to his older brother's annoyance as a baby Stefan laughed in delight.

Shaking his head, the boy placed the remote on a nearby table and shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing, I was just looking around. There are so many.. interesting things in this time. I'm very much fascinated by how they all work." Stefan said with awe, smiling easily up at his brother, and a slight hinting in his voice that his older brother show him the answers.

Damon nodded his head a little, always seeming to somehow forget how this "world" must look to his brother. He also smiled at his younger brother's fascination and innocence to everything around him.

"Ah, well there are much more interesting inventions around here than just the TV, Stef, I can assure you." Damon said amused.

Stefan's eyes widened. "Really? Oh, brother, do you think you could show them to me?"

Damon walked over to Stefan and ruffled his long locks. "Later. How about you go use one of the best inventions of this time; the shower and clean yourself up. Then come down for some "breakfast", hm." Damon ended with quotes around the word breakfast to his demands in a silly fashion.

Stefan shook his head at his brother's playful antics. Although a lot was different here, some things about Damon would never change.

* * *

><p>Damon was sipping some hot coffee comfortably at the kitchen table and reading the newspaper with what appeared to be an interested expression when Stefan appeared and took a seat at the table.<p>

Damon had already placed a warm mug of blood on Stefan's place at the table, hearing his brother rummaging around in his room after taking his shower and knowing he would be down soon.

As Stefan sipped the blood quietly, some of his old-fashioned brown hair, still a little damp and falling into his eyes. Noticing Damon's eyes on him, Stefan looked up at the older vampire in confusion and slight anxiousness at being watched. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just still not used to seeing your hero hairdo everyday." Damon laughed at Stefan's even more confused expression.

The younger Salvatore brought his hand back up to his brunette head and felt through his long strands. "I really do cut my hair then? Apparently into some kind of, "hero" cut they call?" Stefan said, still pouting at the thought of losing his typical hairstyle of the 1800s.

"Ah, don't worry. You look fine either way, little brother. I mean, compared to me you could use some work, but that's a problem everyone comes across," Damon said, going back to his newspaper with Stefan rolling his eyes. His older brother's arrogance was the same in any time period.

The young vampire in question was dressed in a simple light blue button-down shirt and jeans. Damon had left some clothing suggestions on his bed, maybe worried that he would search for his old 1864 clothing, but Stefan had been able to look through the drawers of his new room with ease, picking out an outfit he was sure the version of himself from this time probably wore before; not really liking the more expensive and slightly flashy stuff Damon had originally picked out.

This didn't really shock Stefan though. Throughout their childhood, although they had been considerably wealthy, most of the time Stefan opted to keep his wardrobe simple. Only wanting to really dress up more when the occasion called for it and show off more of his impressive outfits. Damon was always a little more daring and willing to let people know of their family's wealth. It seemed as a vampire, his brother was even more into keeping his appearance always-top notch.

"So, what are we going to do today? I'm kind of bored of being kept up in the house you know. Maybe I could even go to school or something? Elena mentioned that I still go to school in this time." Stefan said happily, eager to learn or study something.

Damon rolled his eyes a little. "Hmph. I think not, brother. You can't exactly go out in school right now in your state. And before you even suggest cutting your hair or insisting that you'll be able to blend in or some other ridiculous nonsense, I've already taken to compelling the principal and staff that you're on a mini "vacation", and you'll be back as soon as you can. I was even so nice to excuse you from any homework." Damon ended his lecture with a smug smile, though he knew any homework for his brother really wouldn't be a challenge, especially after Stefan had been attending high school for numerous decades; even going to multiple colleges such as Harvard at one point.

"But-" Stefan started.

"No buts! I mean it Stefan. I'm the boss and my call is final." Damon's eyes flashed dangerously to reflect that statement, and the younger Salvatore backed down immediately.

Damon sighed. "Don't worry, ok. As soon as Bonnie gets you back to your normal self, you can go back to that education system you seem to love so much. Now, drink your blood and eat some of this cereal I bought."

Giving his brother a weird look, Stefan obeyed and ate the unusual food. However, for the remainder of the meal, Damon didn't miss Stefan's pouting.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>There you go! Really bad, right? Lol, sorry that this is a somewhat pointless part, but I just really wanted to give you something while I'm in that stage where I'm not focused on writing my stories that much.

I might update my other story next even if this wasn't a complete chapter, but we'll see what happens..

Also, what's up with the new review button 0_0 lol..


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